The tree, a 24 foot Fraser Fir, is here and ready for the lighting tonight:

Holiday-Tree-Install-2009-001

Photo: Mad. Sq. E-News #165

A 97 year old tradition continues tonight, on Tuesday, Dec. 8, when the Madison Square Park Conservancy’s annual tree lighting ceremony takes place in Madison Square Park. Once again, the Flatiron Partnership is one of the co-sponsors.

The Mad. Sq. Holiday program will get under way at 4:30 p.m. at the park’s Northern Plaza, with seasonal music provided by the New York Life Singers and by AudraRox, a rock band for children. Both groups have performed at the lighting in previous years.

On Christmas Eve in 1912, Madison Square Park was the scene of the first such event. It was the earliest community tree lighting in New York City, and one of the first in the nation. Some 10,000 onlookers were there, standing on freshly fallen snow, according to The New York Times, and thousands more came by for a musical show that entertained the celebrants until midnight. A 63-foot conifer, called the Tree of Light, was adorned by more than a thousand red, green, blue and white bulbs and topped by a glowing Star of Bethlehem. That occasion is today commemorated by the Star of Hope monument at the southern end of the park.

Source: December Flatiron Newsletter

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