Start of Christmas season marked in NY Rockefeller Center

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Start of Christmas season marked in NY Rockefeller Center

New York mayor Michael R. Bloomberg rang in the Christmas season Wednesday, lighting the Rockefeller Center tree in a blaze of 30,000 bulbs.

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New York mayor Michael R. Bloomberg rang in the Christmas season Wednesday, lighting the Rockefeller Center tree in a blaze of 30,000 bulbs.

With temperatures in the 30s, thousands of people stood bundled inside police barricades for the ceremony.

The 79-foot, 9-ton tree was planted 50 years ago in the Manchester, Conn., yard of Frances and Adolph Katkauskas. It arrived in Manhattan last month, on a Hudson River barge.

The tradition goes back to 1931, when workers building Rockefeller Center erected a small tree amid the Art Deco buildings rising between Fifth and Sixth avenues. Since then, the tree has been lit on the first Wednesday after Thanksgiving.

On Wednesday, some employees long linked to Rockefeller Center enjoyed the view from their corporate windows for the last time. Time Warner and The Associated Press are leaving next year; Time Warner is moving to Columbus Circle, and the AP is moving to a building in the West 30s by the Hudson River.

The live Christmas show in Rockefeller Center also featured performances by Harry Connick Jr., Ashanti, Enrique Iglesias, Gloria Estefan, Kelly Clarkson, Ruben Studdard and the Brian Setzer Orchestra. The 71st spectacle was hosted by Al Roker and Ann Curry.

The tree is to remain illuminated until Jan. 6.

No tree was erected in the plaza in 1932. The first formal tree-lighting ceremony was held in 1933. The largest tree in Rockefeller Center history was a 100-footer, erected in 1999.

In 2001, first lady Laura Bush and then-Mayor Rudolph Giuliani turned on red, white and blue lights together.

Source: Agencies

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