Ring in the holidays! The country's tallest indoor Christmas tree is officially up and it's right here in North Texas.
It took nearly 50 of Santa's elves five days to build the 95-foot tall tree inside Galleria Dallas.
The twinkling tree looks quite different this holiday season.
After the massive five-ton steel frame was constructed, crews added more than 700 new, fuller branches, which took 14,000 hours to hand-sew twigs on them. The tree also has 15,000 new ornaments hanging from its branches.
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But the 250,000 lights programmable LED lights are the main attraction!
Galleria Dallas hired Italian-based lighting company Twinkly to feature new LED lighting that will display animated and immersive light shows on the tree, including dancing reindeer, Santa Claus, and floating candy canes.
The tree is topped by a 100-pound, 10-foot LED star that was the first of its kind in the United States.
“The holiday season has always been our time to shine at Galleria Dallas,” said General Manager Angie Freed. “The beautiful handiwork and visually stunning technology will truly allow us to create the biggest, brightest, merriest holiday experiences for all of North Texas.”
WHEN IS THE LIGHTING OF THE GALLERIA DALLAS CHRISTMAS TREE?
The official Grand Tree Lighting of the Galleria Dallas Christmas tree is at noon on Black Friday, Nov. 24.
But before they light the tree, watch Olympic figure skaters perform on the ice skating rink, before Missile Toes, the ice skating, backflipping Santa who shoots fireworks from his skates, officially rings in the holiday season.
If you can't make it to the lighting, don't worry. Shoppers can stop by the tree to enjoy the Illumination Celebration, that's when the hundreds of thousands of lights will “dance” in time to specially orchestrated music.
The Illumination Celebration will take place daily at noon, 2, 4, 6 and 8 p.m. starting Black Friday.
FUN FACTS ABOUT GALLERIA DALLAS CHRISTMAS TREE
- It's the tallest indoor tree in the United States
- Its steel frame weighs five tons
- 250,000 programmable LED lights
- 717 new, fuller branches
- 15,000 colorful new ornaments
- More skaters ice-skate around the tree than the one at Rockefeller Center each season
- Many couples get engaged while skating around the tree
The Galleria Dallas Christmas Tree will be on display until Sunday, January 7, 2024.
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