Big Duck in Flanders, Rockefeller Center tree to be lit up for holidays

East or west, which holiday lighting will suit you best?

The Big Duck in Flanders — or, the big tree in New York City?

Both are scheduled for this Wednesday, as the holiday season kicks off in earnest with the tree-lighting ceremony in Rockefeller Center and the lighting of The Big Duck out east.

Both start with festivities beginning at 7 p.m., though the weather could put a damper on all of it. The National Weather Service is calling for a 70% chance of rain and temperatures in the mid-30s.

The lighting of The Big Duck — the 20-foot-tall, 30-foot-long, 18-foot-wide ferro-cement structure built in 1931 by Long Island duck farmer Martin Maurer — will be a grassroots event, attended by hundreds including Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine. As per tradition, the Flanders Fire Department will transport Santa Claus to the event on Route 24 atop a fire truck.

“The only thing that can make the famous Big Duck even better is being lit up for the holidays," Romaine said in a statement Monday. "This is such a great event and I encourage everyone to come out and experience this beautiful sight.”

Compared with  the Flanders festivities, the tree lighting at Rockefeller Center will be all pomp and circumstance, attended by tens of thousands at 30 Rock in Manhattan and broadcast live on NBC, Peacock and, for the first time, in a Spanish-language broadcast on Telemundo.

The 2024 tree at Rockefeller Center is a 74-foot-tall Norway spruce. It's believed to be about 70 years old and was donated by a family from West Stockbridge, Massachusetts.

The lighting will be shown as part of the "Christmas in Rockefeller Center" live broadcast on NBC and Peacock between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m., hosted by Kelly Clarkson and Today anchors Savannah Guthrie, Hoda Kotb, Al Roker and Craig Melvin. Performing at the event will be Clarkson, The Backstreet Boys, Jennifer Hudson and a host of others.

The Rockefeller Center tree was selected after a lengthy scouting mission by Farmingdale State College graduate Erik Pauze. 

“The crowds were big today," Pauze, the head gardener at Rockefeller Center, said on Nov. 9 when the tree was erected at the Rockefeller Center plaza. "They were one of the biggest crowds I’ve ever seen that come to a tree raising.”

It will be adorned by a string of 50,000 LEDs approximately 5 miles in length and topped by a 900-pound Swarovski star featuring 70 spikes covered in three million crystals.

The first holiday Christmas tree was erected in Rockefeller Center in 1931, the same year Maurer built The Big Duck. That tree was a modest 20-foot-tall balsam fir adorned with handmade garlands, according to the NBC website, and purchased by workers at Rockefeller Center who pooled their money to get into the holiday spirit. 

This year's tree will be lit daily from 5 a.m. to midnight, though on Christmas Eve it will be lit for 24 hours — and on New Year's Eve it will be lit from 5 a.m. until 9 p.m.

The tree will be on display through to mid-January and then will be taken down, milled and turned into lumber to be donated to Habitat for Humanity.

As for The Big Duck? It's listed on the National Register of Historic Places and the location at 1012 Route 24 is part of the Suffolk County Parks Department system.

The Big Duck is usually closed Wednesdays and Saturdays, though for the lighting ceremony it will be open from 10 a.m. through 9 p.m.

The park is open dawn to dusk, though the shop at The Big Duck is open Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from 10 a.m. until 3:30 p.m.

Both events — the big tree and The Big Duck — are free and open to the public, although tickets are required for some viewing areas at Rockefeller Center.

Additional information about the Rockefeller Center tree can be obtained at www.rockefellercenter.com/holidays/rockefeller-center-christmas-tree-lighting/

With AP

By John Valenti

john.valenti@newsday.com

John Valenti, a reporter at Newsday since 1981, has been honored nationally by the Associated Press and Society of the Silurians for investigative, enterprise and breaking news reporting, as well as column writing, and is the author of “Swee'pea,” a book about former New York playground basketball star Lloyd Daniels. Valenti is featured in the Emmy Award-winning ESPN 30-for-30 film “Big Shot.”