{"id":125312,"date":"2020-12-03T03:37:37","date_gmt":"2020-12-03T00:37:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/midtown-a-ghost-town-before-rockefeller-center-tree-lighting\/"},"modified":"2020-12-03T03:37:37","modified_gmt":"2020-12-03T00:37:37","slug":"midtown-a-ghost-town-before-rockefeller-center-tree-lighting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/midtown-a-ghost-town-before-rockefeller-center-tree-lighting\/","title":{"rendered":"#Midtown a ghost town before Rockefeller Center tree lighting"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Midtown a ghost town before Rockefeller Center tree lighting<\/strong>”
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The Ghosts of Christmas Present were about the only ones allowed near the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree lighting Wednesday night \u2014 thanks to COVID restrictions that all but emptied the plaza of its people and its cheer.<\/p>\n

The usually-packed 30 Rock plaza looked more like a holiday-theme<\/a> department store window when the 75-foot-tall Norway spruce was lit up at 9:45 p.m.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis year has been a downer. It would have been amazing and nice if the tree lighting was more festive,\u201d said Abel Fernandez, who was one of the few that trekked to Midtown regardless.<\/p>\n

The 43-year-old worked at a Manhattan hotel for 14 years before being laid off as the outbreak battered the industry. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe need some type of normal to lift up our sprits\u2026,\u201d he said. \u201cWe were hoping for a celebration or tree lighting.\u201d<\/p>\n

By comparison, last year\u2019s tree lighting saw hundreds of people jammed on the plaza\u2019s ice rink in front of a stage filled with performers.<\/p>\n

Authorities had to start cordoning off the area around 3 p.m. that year, while in 2020, officers were still putting up barriers at around 5 p.m., as around 20 people milled about checking out the towering tree.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

By around 6:30 p.m. a few dozen spirited folks had still flocked to Midtown to catch a glimpse of the festivities \u2014 but they had to stand more than 50 yards away, near Saks Fifth Avenue, jammed close together in front of a metal barricade.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy can\u2019t we group by the tree?,\u201d griped Jennifer Goetz, a 45-year-old from Florida who works in the medical field and said it was her first time in the Big Apple.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were looking forward to seeing the tree light up and watching all the performers,\u201d Goetz said. \u201cWe always watched on TV and now we can\u2019t even get remotely close to the tree.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another tourist, 21-year-old student Angel Caceres of Uruguay said he was going to leave New York on Thursday \u201cdepressed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI came here for the Christmas tree lighting and to adopt a dog. I\u2019ve never seen the tree lighting and it\u2019s emblematic,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cI wish the city organized this better, I\u2019m standing in the middle of a mob, why can\u2019t I be close to the tree?\u201d<\/p>\n

Adding to the \u201cbah humbug\u201d mood, a costumed Grinch even came by the group, asking if anyone wanted a photo. <\/p>\n

A 33-year-old Manhattanite, who gave her name as Charlotte S., wondered why other outdoor events were allowed but not the tree lighting tradition. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey could have done this better,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

Charlotte noted that the crowd was gathering by Saks regardless \u2014 though cops broke the group up about 45 minutes later and told folks to keep moving.<\/p>\n

A 33-year-old Manhattanite, who gave her name as Charlotte S., wondered why other outdoor events were allowed but not the tree lighting tradition, as she noted that the crowd was gathering by Saks regardless.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey could have done this better,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

New Yorker Diana Ramkissoon, of Queens, was also nostalgic for pre-coronavirus days.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is all new to me \u2014 the mask,\u201d she said. \u201cI have my childhood memories coming to the tree lighting with my parents, grandparents. Now I\u2019m here with my grandson and son.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would have been nice to see the performers and tree lighting,\u201d the 59-year-old added.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to cooperate but it\u2019s a bummer.\u201d\n <\/p><\/div>\n

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Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“#Midtown a ghost town before Rockefeller Center tree lighting” The Ghosts of Christmas Present were about the only ones allowed near the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree lighting Wednesday night \u2014 thanks to COVID restrictions that all but emptied the plaza of its people and its cheer. The usually-packed 30 Rock plaza looked more like a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":125313,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/12\/rockefeller-tree-6.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=1200","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[82432,66,81020,75297,81023,82145],"class_list":["post-125312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-12-2-20","tag-christmas","tag-christmas-in-rockefeller-center","tag-midtown","tag-rockefeller-center","tag-trees"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125312","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=125312"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125312\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/125313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=125312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=125312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=125312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}