'Tis the season — officially.

A 40-foot Norway spruce tree, donated by the Louisville Airport Authority, is now in place in Jefferson Square — and the branches are quite lovely. As Louisville's official holiday tree, it will serve as a centerpiece for the annual Light Up Louisville event, on Saturday, Dec. 7.

This year, you can rock around the tree as you visit Santa Claus + Cindy Lou Who, enjoy food from Frosty's Food Court, and get ahead on the shopping at the Mistletoe Market. It will also feature a 200-drone light show, a video projected on Metro Hall, and a parade, which kicks things off at 6 p.m.

Each year, Louisville's giant tree is donated by an individual or organization for display across from Louisville Metro Hall. This year's tree came from outside the Old Vet Testing Building near Bowman Field. Eligible trees must be a spruce or fir that's at least 40 feet tall and well shaped.

Here's the under-story on the ghosts trees of holidays past.

In 2022, the tree came from someone's yard in the Audubon neighborhood where it had grown too large and become a hazard.
The 2021 tree was on the waiting list for five years before it was finally deemed tall enough — they should've called it "Tiny Tim-ber"
The 2019 tree was a live Christmas tree replanted in a Louisvillian's yard back in 1999.