SAN ANTONIO -- H-E-B’s Christmas gift to the city of San Antonio will arrive at Travis Park on Wednesday, November 14 in the form of a 50-foot Blue Spruce Christmas tree.

The the H-E-B Christmas tree will be decorated with more than 10,000 red and white lights and dozens of gold and silver handmade ornaments. In total, H-E-B commits more than $250,000 each year to the transportation, decorations and lighting of the tree for all of San Antonio to enjoy.

For the first time, H-E-B’s Texas Backyard team searched for a perfect tree to gift to San Antonio. This year’s Blue Spruce Christmas tree is from Northern Michigan near Lake Michigan.

The 34th Annual H-E-B Tree Lighting Celebration will take place on Friday, November 23 at Travis Park from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. The tree lights will be illuminated for the first time at 6:20 p.m.

H-E-B will provide free VIA bus rides to the tree lighting.

The community celebration is free and open to the public. It will feature activities such as cookie decorating stations, holiday crafts, free giveaways, letters to Santa and live musical entertainment as well as a special visit from Santa himself.