White House to host eco-friendly Easter Egg roll

 


LOOKS LIKE EASTER: The
official 2010 White House Easter Eggs. (Photo courtesy of WhiteHouse.gov)
With a theme of “Ready, Set, Go!” this year’s White
House Easter Egg Roll will focus on healthy kids and going green.
According to the official White House site,
the event will be held on April 5, 2010, and will feature live music,
sports, cooking stations, storytelling, and, of course, Easter egg
rolling. All of the activities will be geared towards encouraging
children to lead healthy and active lives as part of Michelle Obama’s Let’s
Move!
 campaign
to combat childhood obesity.
 
In addition to health and wellness, the official Easter egg roll
will have a green spin — environmentally friendly wooden eggs made in
the U.S. from FSC-certified hardwood that feature vegetable-oil based
inks and a water-based coating. The eco-eggs will come in purple, pink,
green, and yellow and feature the stamped signatures of both President
Obama and first lady Michelle Obama.  
 
DC-area kids used to roll eggs on the Capitol grounds, but
uptight lawmakers grew agitated by the damage to the grass and passed
the Turf Protection Law banning the practice in 1876.  Two years later
in 1878, President Rutherford B. Hayes opened the White House grounds to
area kids, and they’ve been rolling eggs there ever since.  
 
Notable events from previous egg rolls include the 1941 roll that
accommodated a record 53,000 people (nowadays the numbers are limited to
about 20,000); the
Clinton administration’s 1998 egg roll which was the first to be
broadcast on the Internet; and the 2006 event during which more than 100 same-sex
couples showed up with their children in an organized effort to show
President Bush “that gay families exist in this country.”
 
The lottery for tickets to this annual event closed on Feb 28th. Got
tickets?  Check the federal site recreation.gov to find out where,
when, and how to get there.  All participants under the age of 12 will
receive a souvenir “eco-egg,” produced and sold by the National Park
Foundation.  But don’t worry, if you didn’t get in, you can also pick
them up online for $7.50 a piece at the National Park
Foundation
website.
 
If you want to get into the spirit, check out this video of the
2009 egg roll:
 

 

Jenn Savedge is a regular blogger for Mother Nature Network, this post originally appeared.

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