After a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the president and first lady welcomed scores of children to the White House on Monday for the annual Easter Egg Roll, where thousands of children and their parents participated in an Easter egg hunt, the egg roll and a number of other activities.
"It me means so much to see and hear the children and all the families show up to be here today," President Joe Biden told the crowd gathered on a chilly and drizzling South Lawn. "Have fun today. Welcome to the White House. Welcome to your house."
First Lady Dr. Jill Biden announced last week that this year's theme will be “EGGucation!,” a celebration which will transform the famed White House South Lawn "into a school community, full of fun educational activities for children to enjoy."
Dr. Biden, herself a longtime teacher and current professor Northern Virginia Community College, said the day was about honoring "the determined spirit of education."
The Bidens refereed a few egg roll competitions and read a book to a group of kids at the day's "reading nook," where they were joined by "Tonight Show" host Jimmy Fallon, who read one as well.
The president also gave a resounding "Yeah!" when asked by reporters if he had fun meeting kids on the lawn.
Hard-boiled eggs dyed various colors were used for the egg roll, some of a total 100,000 donated by egg farmers around the country for the occasion, with a portion going to the nearby Maryland Food Bank.
A catering company worked with local farmers to get the eggs ready, said Sara Stiebrs, a Washington state-based egg farmer who was at the White House on Monday.
"They were able to get their help to hard-boil the eggs and dye the eggs in a short amount of time and then get them here to the White House," she told Spectrum News.
The event featured a number of special performances and appearances from several prominent figures, including Fallon, singer Ciara, actress Kristin Chenoweth and 2021 National Teacher of the Year, Juliana Urtubey, and a few beloved characters, including Cookie Monster, Snoopy and Charlie Brown, Cat in the Hat, Sonic the Hedgehog and The Washington Nationals’ Racing Presidents Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, Roosevelt, Taft, and Coolidge.
Over 30,000 people were expected to participate in Monday's events, the White House said in a statement, many of whom are military service members and their families. The first lady personally sponsored crew members and families of those stationed on the the naval submarine U.S.S. Delaware.
The day is split into five sessions, starting at 7:30 a.m. ET and ending at 6:30 p.m. ET. In addition to the traditional Easter Egg Roll and host of performers, guests can experience a "cafetorium," where families can both sample and learn how to make seasonal food; go on a "field trip," where guests learn from local farmers about feeding communities; go to the "reading nook" featuring children's books and authors and race through the "physical EGGugation" obstacle course with games for children of all ages.
The White House Easter Egg Roll, although paused during the pandemic, is a tradition that dates back to 1878, when President Rutherford B. Hayes opened the grounds on Easter Monday to the public for the first time. It has been cancelled a number of times throughout history, for a variety of reasons.
The 1918 Egg Roll was cancelled due to "wartime regulations," which prohibited the destruction of food like eggs, per the White House; the event was moved to the Capitol in 1942 at the onset of World War II due to "security reasons," and then cancelled for the remainder of the war. President Harry S. Truman was also forced to suspend the 1946-1948 White House Easter Egg Rolls due to food conservation efforts.
The Bidens have participated in a number of White House Easter events during the Obama-Biden administration, and introduced the Easter Bunny at the White House Egg Roll in 2009. Biden, a devout Catholic, also spoke alongside Obama during Easter Prayer Breakfasts during his tenure as vice president.
