Tonight they’re going to light up one of the planet’s most famous Christmas Trees at Rockefeller Center. They’ll do it in a city battered by superstorm Sandy, in the midst of Manhattan. The tree will be garlanded by lights and topped by a stunning Swarovski star, all in an evolving ceremony that’s been replayed every season since 1933, in the depths of the Great Depression.
But it’s the tree and the man who donated it that make this year’s event singular. Joseph Balku escaped Communist Hungary back in 1956, wading across rivers to escape armed soldiers. He made his way to the United States. Having been raised on a farm in Eastern Europe, he used his hands to make a living – everything from plumbing to automobile repair. Eventually, he became a gas station owner in Flanders, New Jersey.
Joe moved into his house in 1973. There, in the yard, was a 40-foot Norway Spruce. Fast-forward another 40 years and the tree had doubled in size to 80 feet. That tree, and the man who nurtured it, have weathered lots of storms – man-made and otherwise. Hurricane Sandy was just the latest. Joe says of the spruce, “It’s a resilient tree that I think will act as a symbol to all of us that New Jersey and everyone affected by the recent terrible weather will recover.”
For the record, Joe’s 80-foot tall Norway Spruce is 50 feet in diameter, weighs about 10 tons and has lived a long life. She’s some 80-years old and is bedecked by 45,000 multi-colored LEDs, five miles of them.
This is no ordinary tree, no ordinary Joe – and no ordinary city.
This is what the tree looked like in 2011:
2011 Tree – Courtesy of Tishman Speyer, photographer Gregory Scaffidi
(Featured image of Christmas at Rockefeller Center by petercruise)
