'The people's house': 40,000 people brave the rain for White House Easter Egg Roll

WASHINGTON – A little rain Monday morning couldn't stop the annual White House Easter Egg Roll.

An estimated 40,000 people visited the White House South Lawn, enduring occasional rainfall for one of the White House's oldest traditions that dates back to 1878.

Kids rolled and hunted for eggs in what officials said was the largest White House Egg Roll ever. Other children listened to first lady Jill Biden read them a story. Big band jazz from the Marines and Navy bands livened the spirits amid the dark clouds.

"This is the people's house," President Joe Biden, wearing a necktie featuring colorful eggs, told Al Roker on the NBC "Today Show." "We just like opening up the place and let people see. This is their place."

Kids lined up with colorful spoons for their chance to roll the multicolored eggs to the finish line as eager parents, aunts and uncles waited with cameras at the finish line capturing the kids’ brave attempts to roll the sometimes defiant stuck-in-the-grass eggs.

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Violet Olivia Watkins, 11, was at the event with her siblings Gabriel, 10, and Victoria, 7. The siblings from Chicago were visiting the White House for the first time. “It was cool to see the president,” said Victoria. “The first lady looked so nice.”

Gabriel enjoyed some of the activities that were set up on the South Lawn. “I loved shooting baskets,” he said. “That was fun, but the weather was not so great.”

But he did approve of the U.S. Marine band in the background. “They were very good,” he said.

The celebration included an assortment of educational opportunities for children. Dubbed the “EGGucation” Roll − a theme pushed by the first lady − the South Lawn featured a school house activity area, a reading nook, a "field trip to the farm," a physical education zone and a "snack time tent."

Colorful miniature hot-air balloons decorated the south façade of the White House, each marking the school subjects that make up "STEAM" education − science, technology, engineering, art and math.

"Easter reminds us of the power of hope and renewal, sacrifice and resurrection,” Biden said, addressing the crowd from the White House South Portico standing next to an Easter bunny mascot. “But mainly love and grace toward one another. It's time to pray for one another, to cherish the blessings and the possibilities that we have as Americans. That’s what I see in our country.”

Tickets for the event were distributed to the public through an online lottery.

The White House Easter Egg Roll started when President Rutherford B. Hayes invited children to egg roll on the White House lawn on the Monday after Easter. Hayes was replacing an egg roll that had previously taken place on the west grounds of the U.S. Capitol but was restricted by 1876 because of concern about landscape damage, according to the White House Historical Association.

For the 45th year, the American Egg Board, representing the nation's egg farms, partnered with the White House to put on Monday's event. More than 64,000 eggs were brought in for the event.

Biden told Roker that he celebrated Easter Sunday with his family at the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland. Biden was also asked about the 2024 election against presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump.

“I think the country is ready to come together. I mean that sincerely," Biden said. “I just think people are so tired of the negativity that is propagated, that they just want to get engaged. They want to change things. I am optimistic.”