Easter Egg Roll at The White House

Easter Egg Roll: The White House’s Biggest Celebration

The annual Easter Egg Roll is one of Washington DC’s oldest and most celebrated traditions. Every year thousands gather in the White House’s backyard for a festival that includes many family friendly activities. On Monday April 6^th the First Family will host the 137^th annual White House Easter Egg Roll. 35,000 are expected to attend the celebration. The event features an egg roll and hunt, live music, storytelling, cooking demonstrations and fitness zones that support The First Lady’s “Let’s Move” campaign. The event is free and open to the public through a lottery. As part of this year’s theme, The First Lads has launched the “Gimme Five” campaign, which asks kids, parents and celebrities to share via social media five changes they will make to become healthier.

The celebrated tradition began over 150 years ago. In the early days of Washington DC, local children would gather at the Capital grounds on the Monday after Easter for an egg hunt and roll. The first egg rolls took place when President Andrew Johnson was in office. His family would gather together with other political families on the Capital Grounds, and watch from the South Portico as their children would roll down the hill of the capital with their eggs and then organize an egg hunt along the grounds. Johnson’s children would dye the eggs the Sunday before the traditional Easter egg roll on Monday.

Over time, Congress grew weary of the event. In 1876, the Easter egg roll took a particular toll on the Capital grounds, which had not yet completed their landscaping. Congress passed an act banning the children from using the Capital grounds for the event. In 1878, a group of children approached President Hayes while he was taking his daily walk and asked permission to hold the event on the White House South Lawn. Persuaded by the children, the President granted the children permission to use the White House’s backyard. Every year since that first egg roll, the White House has hosted the event.

As part of the tradition, the White House gives souvenir eggs to every child under the age of 12 as they exit the South Lawn. Each year, The First Family takes its own twist on the egg hunt. For instance, Rosalyn Carter and Betty Ford passed out colorful plastic eggs with notes to the children from the First Lady inside them. In 1981, Ronald Reagan started a new tradition by hosting a hunt with wooden eggs that bore the signatures of famous actors, actresses, athletes and politicians. Since the 1981 hunt, the White House added a 5^th wooden egg to its annual souvenir collection. This year the four pastel eggs have the signature of The First Lady and The President, and the wooden egg has the signature paw prints of Bo and Sunny.

What began as a small gathering of children has ballooned into the largest annual event held on the grounds of the White House. The Easter Egg Roll is now one of Washington’s best traditions and a highly anticipated event by many of DC’s children.

By 422 Creative
Picture copyright: Shutterstock

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