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On Easter Monday, President and Mrs Obama will welcome more than 35,000 people on the South Lawn for the 134th annual White House Easter Egg Roll. The theme this year is "Let's Go, Let's Play, Let's Move" and activities -- including sports courts and cooking demonstrations -- are aimed at educating families on smart ways to incorporate healthy eating and exercise into their daily routines, which are key pillars of the First Lady's Let's Move! initiative.
History credits President Rutherford B. Hayes for hosting the first Easter Egg Roll in 1878, but there are records of informal egg rolling events dating as early as President Lincoln's administration which took place on the grounds of the U.S. Capitol.
After the Civil War, egg rolling was an annual event on the grounds of the Capitol building, but in 1878 a ban on the egg rolling went into effect because the grounds were being destroyed. Legend has it that President Hayes saw tearful children while riding past the Capitol in his carriage and he invited them to play on the White House lawn. In those earlier times the lawn of the White House was not fenced and locals even picnicked there.
The event was canceled during World Wars I and II and during the Truman Renovation of the White House.
Egg rolling races using spoons borrowed from the White House kitchen were introduced in 1974 and in 1981 "pits" were installed so that children could dig up eggs that held the president's autograph.
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Many "First Dogs", including "Bo", were in attendance along side their presidential owners, but in 1927 First Lady Grace Coolidge brought her pet raccoon, Rebecca to the Roll which caused mad excitement according to the reports of the day. (Seen pictured at right).
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President and Mrs Nixon began the tradition of including the White House Easter Bunny to the festivities and nowadays the event cannot officially be called the "White House Easter Egg Roll" until the opening ceremony, when the Easter Bunny makes an appearance.
President Reagan began the tradition of autographing the eggs which were still "real' hard-boiled eggs at the time. President H.W. Bush and Mrs. Bush were the first to stamp autographs onto commemorative wood eggs. President and Mrs. Obama's innovation is to use vegetable oil-based ink and wood from "sustainably managed forests" for the eggs which are also packaged in eco-friendly paper.
The first White House "cybercast" of an Easter Egg Roll on the internet was in 1998, courtesy of President Bill Clinton. Which makes sense, since Vice President Al Gore "invented" the internet. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt made the first radio broadcast from an Easter Egg Roll in 1933.
You can order souvenir eggs individually or in a set. This year, as a special offer you will receive a special edition "Bo Egg" when you order a set of the 2012 eggs.
Happy Easter everybuddy ;~D