National Christmas Tree Lighting

Sponsored by the Girl Scouts, and assisted by the Woman’s Club of Cranbury, Santa’s Workshop will begin at 6 p.m.at the firehouse, followed by holiday caroling with the Cranbury Brass Band at 7 p.m.at the old firehouse.

During the course of history, the Rockefeller tree lighting has grown in scale over the years.

The tree is illuminated by 45,000 multi-colored LED lights on 5 miles of wire.

First lady Michelle Obama with Miss Piggy, left, read ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas for children on stage during the National Christmas Tree Lighting ceremony at the Ellipse in Washington, Thursday, Dec. 3, 2015.

“SO excited to announce we’ll be performing at the #RockCenterXMAS lighting”, the trio captioned a photo on Instagram, showing the famed tree from a previous tree lighting ceremony. Blige, Andrea Bocelli, Andy Grammer, Carly Rae Jepsen and Pentatonix were also part of the lineup.

The NJ.com website reported on December 2 that tonight’s event will be hosted by NBC affiliates Matt Lauer, Savannah Guthrie, Al Roker and Natalie Morales from Rockefeller Center.

Hours before thousands of people gathered at Rockefeller Center, barricades went up on Fifth Avenue and surrounding blocks, and officers and New York Police Department (NYPD) vehicles were already in the area. This year’s tree came from upstate Gardiner, New York.

The pre-show went on, including a live performance by Sting, before the 10-ton Norway Spruce Christmas tree came to life with 45,000 LED lights. After the holidays, it will be milled into lumber for Habitat for Humanity.