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The president and first lady were scheduled to address the crowd
from a White House balcony before they join the festivities.
Children will line up to guide colorfully dyed hard-boiled eggs
across a patch of lawn to a finish line. There’s also an egg
hunt and activities to promote next year’s 250th anniversary of
America’s founding.
Kids and families can sign a mini-Declaration of Independence or
dress up as Founding Fathers during the daylong event that will
feature multiple activity stations, live performances and story
times.
The first lady, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt and
Keith Kellogg, the president’s special envoy for Ukraine, are
among those scheduled to read to children.
The United States celebrates its 250th anniversary on July 4,
2026.
The American Egg Board, which has participated in the Easter Egg
Roll for nearly 50 years and has been a lead sponsor for the
past decade, donated 30,000 eggs that were hand-dyed by board
staff and volunteers and delivered to the White House on Friday,
said Emily Metz, board president and CEO.
She said the board understands the frustration felt by egg
farmers and consumers over the egg shortage caused by the spread
of avian flu and how expensive it's become to buy a dozen as a
result.
Metz said the 2,500 dozen eggs given to the White House were
small and medium, sizes not typically sold by retailers, so will
not further strain the supply or contribute to even higher
prices. Nearly 9 million dozen eggs are sold daily in the United
States, she said.
“We feel like we need to take a moment to celebrate where we
can, and you cannot have Easter without eggs and you cannot have
the White House Easter Egg Roll without real eggs,” Metz said in
an interview.
The Easter Egg Roll is one of the oldest White House traditions.
It dates to 1878 and the presidency of Rutherford B. Hayes, who
opened the lawn to children after Congress banned them from
rolling eggs on the grounds of the U.S. Capitol.
Tickets for Monday's event were distributed through a lottery.
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