A 38-foot blue spruce donated by Anthony Vallecorsa of Brighton Heights is headed downtown on Nov. 14, and Pittsburgh drivers should plan around it. Police and forestry crews will escort the tree from the North Side between 8:30 and 10:30 a.m., with Grant Street closing between Third and Fifth avenues from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. to get it installed at the City-County Building.
Escort Route Winds Through North Side and Downtown
According to WPXI, the tree's journey will affect Richbarn Road, Brighton Road, Termon Avenue, Brighton Heights Boulevard, Route 65, Interstate 279, the Fort Duquesne Bridge, Fort Pitt Boulevard, Smithfield Street, Boulevard of the Allies and Grant Street as it makes its way from Brighton Heights to the Golden Triangle. Once it lands at the City-County Building, crews won't be finished — installation work continues Sunday, Nov. 15, as workers complete decorating the tree with lights and ornaments. That same day, the northbound Grant Street lane closest to the City-County Building will close from 6:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The closure pattern looks familiar to anyone who braved downtown traffic last year. The same WPXI report notes the tree will serve as Pittsburgh's official tree through the new year and stands as the only live outdoor tree in downtown Pittsburgh. For the 2025 installation, Grant Street closed between the same Third and Fifth avenue cross streets from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., per a City of Pittsburgh announcement, and the northbound lane nearest the building closed from 6:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. that November as well.
Lighting Ceremony Set for Nov. 21 With Fireworks and Jazz
The bigger event comes Saturday, Nov. 21, when Pittsburgh's tree-lighting ceremony and holiday festivities take over Grant Street in front of the City-County Building from 4 to 6:30 p.m. Crews are set to light the tree at 5 p.m., accompanied by rooftop fireworks, with a holiday lightshow following immediately on the building's Grant Street facade. Additional lightshows are planned for 6:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
The celebration will feature live musical performances by Chantal Joseph and the Pittsburgh Creative and Performing Arts Jazz Quintet, plus food trucks and a craft vendor market, the station's report states. Grant Street will close between Fourth Avenue and Forbes Avenue for the celebrations, and Fourth Avenue will close between Cherry Way and Ross Street. Drivers traveling downtown that day are advised to follow posted detour routes.
A Tradition Dating to 1913 — With a Numbering Mystery
Pittsburgh's official tree tradition traces back to 1913, when Councilman Robert Garland led the fundraising campaign that got the custom started and Henry Clay Frick authorized use of his empty property between Fifth and Sixth avenues for the inaugural celebration. The official tree was first erected at the City-County Building construction site in 1915, where it has remained ever since — making the annual display one of the Golden Triangle's oldest holiday traditions, per the same account.
This year's spruce is described as Pittsburgh's 113th official Christmas tree, though the City's own 2025 announcement referred to last year's tree as the 110th — a discrepancy the available record does not explain. That 2025 tree, a Norway spruce, came from Leslie Park in Lawrenceville, a change from the blue spruces the city sourced from a former church property in Springdale for three consecutive years through 2024, according to TribLIVE. That outlet reported crews harvested a 43-foot blue spruce from the former St. Alphonsus Church grounds in Springdale in November 2024, ahead of that year's Nov. 23 lighting for Pittsburgh's Light Up Night.
