YES, IT’S UP ALREADY: 5 things to know about Austin’s Zilker Holiday Tree
![Austin Energy workers hang lights Wednesday from the 155-foot-tall moonlight tower in Zilker Park to form the 53rd annual Zilker Holiday Tree. Dozens of crew members decorated the tower with over 3,000 lights, most of them LED bulbs for the first time this year. The tree lighting ceremony will be Dec. 1. [JAY JANNER/AMERICAN-STATESMAN]](/gcdn/authoring/2019/10/23/NAAS/ghows-TX-5d94b85a-3ed9-42d3-9d93-35f09b645c7c-7862793d.jpeg?width=660&height=444&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp)
It’s already that time of year, Austin! The Zilker Holiday Tree was erected in Zilker Park on Wednesday, so here are five things to know:
1. It’s not a tree. Austin Energy crews hang 39 strings of lights on a 155-foot-tall moonlight tower.
2. It’s going green: This year, which marks the 53rd season of the Zilker Tree, the lights have LED bulbs, which consume less electricity and will last longer, Austin Energy officials said.
3. And it’s red and yellow and blue: Each string of light has 81 red, yellow, green and blue bulbs, officials said.
“The strategic placement of the yellow bulbs on each string gives the tree its distinctive and dizzying swirl pattern,” officials said.
4. Six more weeks in the dark: If you’re interested in watching the tree get lighted, you’ll have to wait until 5:30 p.m. Dec. 1. Children who won the Austin Parks and Recreation Department’s tree art contest will light up the tree that day.
5. Fun comes in December: The tree will be on display in Zilker Park in December through Jan. 1 from 6 p.m. until midnight.
