Rockefeller Center reveals its 2023 Christmas tree! Here are the details

Rockefeller Center has its 2023 Christmas tree!

A tree has towered over the legendary New York City plaza almost every year since 1931, and this year’s has been selected.

“Meet the 2023 Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree,” Rockefeller Center tweeted on Wednesday.

This year’s tree is from Vestal, New York, the tweet said. It weighs about 12 tons and is 80-feet tall.

The tree is slated to arrive in the Big Apple on Nov. 11. Crews will decorate — or should we say spruce up — the three ahead of the annual tree lighting ceremony on Nov. 28.

Daytime talkshow host and pop star Kelly Clarkson will host a two-hour live show to light the tree, complete with performances and celebrity cameos. TODAY’s Savannah Guthrie, Hoda Kotb, Al Roker and Craig Melvin will also join her.

The “Christmas in Rockefeller Center” tree lighting ceremony will air on both NBC and Peacock Nov. 29 at 8 p.m. E.T./P.T. (Peacock is owned by TODAY.com’s parent company, NBCUniversal.)

A giant christmas tree stands above a gold statue and ice skating rink surrounded by tall new york city buildings. (Lokman Vural Elibol / Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Rockefeller Center has put up a giant Christmas tree nearly every year since 1931. Current head gardener for Rockefeller Center Erik Pauze sources a new Norway spruce to take the place of honor above the ice skating rink.

“What I look for is a tree you would want in your living room, but on a grander scale. It’s got that nice, perfect shape all around,” he said in an interview shared on RockefellerCenter.com. “And most of all, it’s gotta look good for those kids who turn the corner at 30 Rock; it needs to instantly put a huge smile on their faces. It needs to evoke that feeling of happiness.”

He said the specific type of tree, Norway spruce, “is great for the scale it can achieve. It can hold the lights on its branches, and it stands there nice and proud as the tree should.”

The first tree lighting ceremony was held in 1933 and the iconic outdoor ice skating rink opened in 1936. The first televised tree lighting aired for the first time in 1951 on “The Kate Smith Show.”

This article was originally published on TODAY.com