President & First Lady Welcome Revelers At Annual White House Easter Egg Roll
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WASHINGTON D.C. (CBSMiami/CNN) -- Thousands of adults and children converged on the White House Monday to participate in the 140th Easter Egg Roll. It is one of Washington's biggest social events of the year and President Trump and the first lady were there to welcome revelers.
Children sporting their Sunday best gathered at the White House to carry on the annual tradition of rolling Easter eggs across the White House lawn.
"Not what I expected at all, I didn't think it would be that much stuff. I think it was even better than I thought," said Jackie Rogers from Silver Springs, MD.
The Flowers family came all the way from Georgia as brothers Bradshaw and Langdon worked out a strategy for the race.
"Get under and throw as far as you can and then you'll win," explained Langdon Flowers.
The Easter Egg Roll is one of the White House's most enduring traditions. It dates all the way back to 1878 when President Rutherford Hayes occupied the oval office.
President Donald Trump welcomed the families and so did First Lady Melania, who added new events this year including lawn bowling and a reading station.
Speaking to guests from the Truman Balcony, President Donald Trump celebrated the weather and wished attendees a happy Easter, giving the first lady a special shout out.
"I want to really thank the first lady, Melania, who has done an incredible job. She worked so hard on this event," he said to applause. During brief remarks, he also thanked the White House Historical Association and touted his administration's economic success and strong military.
The Trumps then headed to the egg rolling activity station, where the President presided, blowing the whistle for several rounds. Barron Trump, 12, and other family members sat around a picnic table with children decorating cards for the troops.
More than 30-thousand guests rolled in to join in on the fun.
Participants were chosen in a lottery.
To this day, the Egg Roll remains one of the only times of the year that the White House South Lawn is open to the public (with tickets) to enjoy.
In addition to the thousands of hard boiled eggs on the South Lawn, guests receive an official wooden White House Easter Egg, which this year features a presidential seal on the front and the President and First Lady's signature on the back.
The Incredible Egg, which provides all 30,000 real eggs for rolling, dyeing, and eating, also provides the first lady with a commemorative egg gift of her own. The 2018 Commemorative Egg, the 41st of its kind, was designed by Master Egg Artist Deborah Grassel, who holds a Masters in Egg Art from the International Egg Art Guild.
The ornate glass real egg opens up to feature a miniature President and Mrs. Trump standing on a bridge and was presented to the first lady by representatives of the American Egg Board on Monday morning.
(©2018 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company, contributed to this report.)
