Meet the NYC man who breaks down Rockefeller Center’s tree every year

He’s a real con-sucker.

A visit to the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree – extremely tall, dazzlingly lit – is one of NYC’s most treasured holiday rituals.

And behind every skyscraper stunner cut and brought to the Big Apple to brighten spirits at Christmas time stands only one person with an eye for perfection — probably someone toiling in the concrete jungle of Midtown on the job of head gardener. One of the only people.

But that’s exactly what Eric Paus does at Rockefeller Center, where he has toiled for four decades — the 58-year-old Long Islander told The Post that he “easily” finds 100 trees each year within a six-state radius. Then-Gedaboudit! Check any number of small samples before determining which one is actually the one. ready for prime time,

2024 winner who came on saturday – and will be lit with the usual fanfare on December 4 – is a 74-foot-tall, 11-ton Norway spruce that also measures 43 feet in diameter.

stunning jewelry Tony is from the Berkshires Village of West Stockbridge, Mass.– It’s the first Bay State beauty to have the distinction of occupying a spot in the famous plaza since 1959.

The journey from the backyard of local resident Earl Albert began in 2020, he said, when Posse was looking at another potential candidate.

“I’ll come during those four years…and keep an eye on it,” said the pine pinpointer, who has been in charge of selecting the trees since 2010.

He often searches for future trees—which should be deemed strong and symmetrical enough to handle 50,000 holiday lights—around the previous selected trees or the front runners.

After getting to know the tree and its owner — and overseeing the pampering of the future prize by making sure it was well cared for — Pause said “it was perfect this year.”

“It was perfect,” he said excitedly.

Congrats

Pause revealed that building relationships with families like the Alberts and getting to know the communities where they live is a major part of the job.

There was a 2021 tree, which came from Elkton, MD, which was given a grand farewell by students from a nearby school by lining local streets, and one from a small Florida town in New York’s Hudson Valley, where a giant tree was planted in 2019. The American flag was raised to honor the big gift from the small town.

This year, it was all about hanging out and waiting, sometimes in rocking chairs on the porch of Albert’s house, with a perfect view of the magnificent spruce.

“We were hanging out there like two old friends,” Pause said. “It was great.”

“I spend so much time there that I’ve started calling his house my suburban office,” the perennial supporter joked, adding that he also went to high school varsity football games with the family on some Friday nights. To watch his son play.

“These are memories that come back every year,” he said. “And then took the tree to Rockefeller Center, stood it up and said, ‘Man, this looks just as good as it did in the yard.'”

The Earl was very happy to donate the huge piece of forestry To honor my late mother’s love of Christmas.He said.

This week, the hulking behemoth was cut down, loaded onto a 115-foot trailer and headed south for its final task.

How to choose a winner at home?

Although keeping a very low profile with just a few white lights and ornaments, Pause is also responsible for choosing a 6- to 7-foot tree for his family’s Suffolk County home each holiday season.

The botanist’s shops are much closer to home this time – and yet to be identified, he said with a laugh.

“I generally prefer Frazier fir for the stronger branches on the house,” Pause said.

“You want to make sure it doesn’t miss any needles. This is a big issue,” he said.

“Sometimes I’ve got a fresh tree in my house, and it soaks up water all the way through New Years,” he marveled.

Double or triple check that the tree has been “freshly cut from the bottom” – which will ensure it absorbs as much water as possible.