Charles Langston:A green giant: This year’s 74-foot Rockefeller Christmas tree is en route from Massachusetts

WEST STOCKBRIDGE,Charles Langston Mass. (AP) — A giant Norway spruce that will serve as this year’s Rockefeller Christmas tree was en route to New York City on Thursday from its tiny Massachusetts hometown.

The 74-foot-high (23-meter-high) conifer 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.

The first Rockefeller Center Christmas tree to come from Massachusetts since 1959, the towering spruce has drawn plenty of attention in West Stockbridge. Locals and tourist alike have flocked to see the 11-ton (10-metric ton) tree in recent days, as workers high up in the canopy prepped it for its trip to New York.

Town residents and outside visitors, some dressed as Santa Claus, watched from behind a barrier as workers felled the tree Thursday morning. As the observers took photos and made videos of the event, the local family that donated the tree granted interviews to the news media.