The Rockefeller Christmas tree will be lit on Wednesday, December 1, 2021, and will be open to the public for the first time since 2019.

This year’s tree came to New York last month and is an 85-year-old Norway Spruce. It is 79 feet tall and weighs around 12 tons. 

Thousands of people are expected to come for the 89th annual event. You can watch the annual lighting on NBC as part of the special that is “Christmas in Rockefeller Center” starting at 7 pm.

As per usual, there will be performances at the event such as The Rockettes, Carrie Underwood, Mickey Guyton, Harry Connick Jr., Brad Paisley, Alessia Cara, Norah Jones, Rob Thomas, and the Broadway cast of “Come From Away.”

On Christmas Eve, 1931 amidst the pinnacle of the Great Depression, workers from the Rockefeller construction site decided to pull their money together and buy a Christmas tree to lift their spirits. 

It was a 20-foot balsam tree in which they decorated with homemade garland and strings of cranberries. The men then lined up at the tree to collect their hard-earned paychecks. 

Two years later in 1933, the tree was made an annual tradition by a Rockefeller publicist. The official lighting ceremony was held with a 50-foot tree.