by senior contributor Brendan Kownacki
Photo credit: Brendan Kownacki
The theme of the day was #GimmeFive at the annual White House Easter Egg Roll. The grand scale tradition in its 137th year and the largest annual public event at the White House was a massive tribute to the five year anniversary of First Lady Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” campaign. The #GimmeFive challenge encourages people all across the country to find five ways to eat better, be more active, to live a healthier life, and then pass along the challenge to someone else. And with a crowd of nearly 35,000 people on the South lawn of the White House, there were plenty of folks to join in the movement.
First Lady Michelle Obama
“We are so blessed to have this beautiful day and to have so many friends in our backyard,” greeted President Obama as he took to the White House balcony on the South side of the Presidential mansion. “This is always one of our favorite events.” The President joked that the day marked the ‘birthday’ of “Let’s Move” and introduced another ‘five’ into the celebration via the girl group Fifth Harmony who crooned Happy Birthday in front of the crowd. “Are you going to sing with us,” they challenged the President as they presented a cake. “Sure,” he accepted.
The President of The United States
There was dancing, there were sports activities, there was yoga and games and of course there was lots of Egg Rolling. Dozens of athletes including DeMarcus Ware of the Denver Broncos and Calais Campbell of the Arizona Cardinals helped to encourage fitness through sports among the young participants.
Meanwhile, all-stars from Fox’s So You Think You Can Dance used their namesake activity to get people moving and the First Lady even joined in the fun. She encouraged participants to post their #GimmeFive challenges on social networks like Instagram which had a delegation on site at the Roll to tell the story of the day through images. Also on site was a team from Snap Chat who were snapping away memories of the activities while others were busy trying to livestream updates from their phones. One thing is clear: In 137 years, the Egg Roll has come a long way and technology is a big part of this White House.
“Beyonce has done it. Michael Strahan has done it. Everybody’s joining…Ryan Seacrest has done it,” touted Mrs. Obama of just how far the movement has traveled. Strahan himself was in attendance along with co-host Kelly Ripa to do a special broadcast live from the South Lawn of the White House for their show, LIVE with Kelly and Michael. Both hosts brought their kids (complete in their Sunday, err Monday best) to join in the fun and roll some eggs with the best of ‘em.
Kelly Ripa and Michael Strathan
We could continue listing other famous faces who were part of the festivities (Actress Connie Britton, Actor Anthony Anderson) or talk about the gourmet chefs who were cooking up a storm (Bobby Flay, Gail Simmons, Michael Symon) or we could thank the folks in the weather department like Al Roker for ordering up perfect weather; but in the spirit of the day, we’ll just say—get out there, and get movin’. And #GimmeFive
Al Roker
