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2017 Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree Arrives In New York City

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- The holiday season is officially underway, now that the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree has finally arrived.

The tree arrived around 8 a.m. Saturday morning from State College, Pennsylvania.

The Norway Spruce stands 75 feet tall and roughly 50 feet in diameter. It's set to be decorated with more than 50,000 lights and topped with a Swarovski Star.

"It's amazing already," Shawna, from Middletown, told WCBS 880's Ethan Harp.

Barbara and Jack from Michigan admired the massive tree.

"It's enormous. It's beautiful," she said.

"Ours don't have guys climbing around inside of them like that," he added.

Joelle works at 30 Rock and has seen the tree countless times, but says it just never gets old.

"It doesn't matter how many times you have seen this tree, when you have the opportunity to see it roll in in person, there's nothing that beats it," she told 1010 WINS' Samantha Liebman.

Soon, the only thing bigger than  the tree will be the crowds, said Eric Nunez, of The Rock Observation Deck.

"Pandemonium, craziness, excitement, energy," he said. "People want to come see the tree."

The tree was discovered when Rockefeller Center's gardener Eric Jose attended a football game in State College seven years ago.

He says he's now focused on putting the gargantuan spruce into position for the big day.

"There's challenges for everything," he said. "You just gotta make sure you do it nice and slow and get everything out and we have a lot of people helping."

The lighting is scheduled for November 29th.

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