West Edmeston, N.Y. — A towering Norway spruce came down Thursday morning on private land in this Otsego County hamlet, starting its escorted run toward Midtown Manhattan and the Rockefeller Center plaza.
Standing about 76 feet and tipping the scales near 11 tons, the tree spans close to 50 feet at its widest point. A crane swung the trunk onto a long flatbed parked along State Highway 8 before the convoy rolled out under police escort.
Planners say the spruce should land at Rockefeller Plaza on Saturday, Nov. 7. After the truck arrives, crews plan to pin the trunk, hoist the tree upright and spend weeks wrapping lights and seating the crystal star that tops the display each year.
The ceremonial switch-on is booked for Dec. 2 during the Christmas in Rockefeller Center special. Visitors will then see the lit spruce through Jan. 9, 2027, before the wood is cut for Habitat for Humanity building stock.
West Edmeston lies roughly 70 miles southeast of Syracuse. Choosing a Central New York Norway spruce keeps the Midtown centerpiece rooted in upstate timber, a pattern organizers have followed for many recent seasons.
The road trip covers about 200 miles from the cut site to Midtown. Holiday crowds in New York typically treat the plaza arrival as the unofficial kickoff before the December lighting draw.
Until Saturday, the bare trunk rides south on the trailer. Once upright at Rockefeller Plaza, electricians and decorators take over, hanging thousands of bulbs ahead of the Dec. 2 ceremony that draws national attention each winter.
For New Yorkers watching the calendar, the sequence is set: Thursday’s cut in West Edmeston, a weekend arrival in Midtown, then the early-December lighting that opens the plaza’s peak tourist stretch.
