President Joe Biden, First Lady Jill Biden and about 40,000 guests on Monday braved grim skies and rain showers in the nation's capital to take to the South Lawn for the time-honored White House Easter Egg Roll.
“Folks, welcome to what’s expected to be the biggest White House Easter Egg Roll ever,” the president told those gathered on the lawn from the White House’s second floor balcony.
“Easter reminds us of the power of hope and renewal, sacrifice and resurrection, but mainly love and grace toward one another,” Biden continued. “It’s a time to pray for one another, to cherish the blessings and the possibilities that we have as Americans.”
He added that America was a “great nation” because we are “good people” before making his way down to the South Lawn himself to chat with attendees.
Despite lightning and thunder delaying the start of Monday’s annual tradition, thousands eventually made their way across the South Lawn and Ellipse to hunt for eggs and use wooden spoons to race them across a finish line.
The first lady, a teacher for more than three decades who still teaches at Northern Virginia Community College, carried an education theme through this year’s festivities. The event, dubbed “EGGucation,” featured a reading nook and a physical education obstacle course, according to the White House. The White House South Portico was adorned with large colorful balloons bearing school subjects such as science, technology and art.
“Education expands our horizons and transports us to new worlds, just like these balloons, it allows all students to soar and reach unimaginable heights,” the first lady said during brief remarks just before the president.
“I hope that you all learn something new today. But most importantly, I hope you all have fun,” she added.
Guests at Monday’s event included military and veteran families and their caregivers. Other attendees won tickets through an online lottery for the general public.
“It’s all we expected and more,” Bobby Hankoff, one attendee who traveled from Los Angeles to attend the tradition said. “The kids love it, they found Easter eggs and they’re very happy.”
Also on hand were beloved characters from film, television shows and books -- like Nickelodeon's SpongeBob Squarepants and Patrick Star, Disney's Winnie the Pooh and Tigger, Snoopy and Wonder Woman -- sports mascots -- like the Philadelphia Phillies' Phillie Phanatic and the Washington Capitals' Slapshot -- and, of course, the Easter Bunny.
The Easter Bunny later attended the White House's press briefing.
Jason Urena, the vice president of NestFresh Eggs based out of Fullerton, California, told Spectrum News that he was invited to a breakfast Monday morning with the president and first lady before bringing his two daughters to the South Lawn, calling the experience “surreal.”
“We’re here today with all American egg farmers, representing all of America’s egg farmers,” Urena said.
“Over 64,000 eggs were donated by America’s egg farmers to make this event possible for all 40,000 people I’m told that are going to be here today so it's just an honor to represent that rest of the industry,” he added.
Several administration officials and Democratic members of Congress, including National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby, Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., and Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, were spotted at the event with youngsters.
“It doesn’t matter what your culture is, what your religion is, today is about the Easter egg roll and the Easter bunny,” Beatty, who was there with her grandkids, told Spectrum News.
But this year’s egg roll – a tradition that dates back to 1878 – came as conservatives, including former President Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign, criticized the president for recognizing March 31, the same day as Easter Sunday, as “Transgender Day of Visibility,” as well as not allowing overtly religious designs on eggs children decorate for Monday’s event.
“Every year for the past several years on March 31st, Transgender Day of Visibility is marked,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters at Monday's press briefing after the event. “And as we know, for folks who understand the calendar and how it works, Easter falls on different Sundays every year and this year it happened to coincide with transgender visibility day.”
As far as the eggs, the American Egg Board, which has been the White House’s “legacy partner” in the annual event for more than 45 years, confirmed the guidelines around not permitting overtly religious egg designs is not unique to Biden and has been the same through every administration since it started working on the event.
Spectrum News' Cassie Semyon and Angi Gonzalez contributed to this report