BOSTON — A giant Norway spruce that will serve as this year's Rockefeller Center Christmas tree was en route to New York City on Thursday from its tiny Massachusetts hometown.
The 74-foot-high (23-meter-high) conifer, donated by a family that owned it, was cut down Thursday morning in West Stockbridge and hoisted onto a flatbed truck by crane. It will travel 140 miles (225 kilometers) to Rockefeller Center, where it will be erected on Saturday. The tree, to feature 50,000 multi-colored lights and a Swarovski star crown, will remain on display until mid-January.
Erik Pauze, the head gardener for Rockefeller Center responsible for finding the tree and helping transport it, said he first spotted this green giant back in 2020.
''I saw the beautiful Norway Spruce as I drove down the road, and it was right in front of me,'' he was quoted by Rockefeller Center's newsletter as saying. ''I knocked on the door and met Earl Albert. I asked if he would someday consider donating the Tree to Rockefeller Center. His answer was immediately yes.''
Shawn Albert, Earl Albert's daughter-in-law, recalled that Pauze stopped by two days after Earl Albert's wife, Lesley, had died. She said her father-in-law immediately agreed to donate the tree, taking it as a sign from Lesley, who loved Christmas. The family decorated the tree each year with Christmas lights.
The family couldn't have a funeral for Lesley Albert because of the pandemic, so Thursday's event, which included carolers sending off the tree, was a way to remember her, the Alberts said.
''She was such a huge part of the community,'' Shawn Albert said in a video of the event provided by Rockefeller Center. ''To me, this is like her gathering that we finally get to have and we finally get to honor her.''
Michael Albert, Shawn's husband and Lesley Albert's son, recalled that his mother was a nurse, and a ''giving person" so that sharing the tree with the community made sense.
