Canceled? You Must Be Yolking!

This year's White House Easter Egg Roll, the annual event in which children roll colored eggs across the South Lawn, was called off due to rain showers. Instead, children and their parents were given a tour of the White House. The rain also prevented a number of readings by children's book authors that were to have been part of the festivities. Scheduled to appear were Mary Jane Auch, Norman Bridwell, Eric Carle, William Joyce, Eric A. Kimmel, Patricia Polacco, Rosemary Wells, Cheryl Barnes, C.L. Arbelbide and Charlotte Faye. Instead, President Bush and First Lady Laura Bush invited the authors to join them for breakfast. The menu most likely included eggs, and lots of them, since the White House had dyed over 10,000 for the Easter event. The eggs were donated to D.C. Central Kitchen food bank.

The egg roll has been canceled three other times since its inception 100 years ago: once during WWI, again during WWII and because of rain in 1984. The year it rained on President Reagan's parade, a costumed Easter bunny, played by the wife of then-Attorney General Edwin Meese, led children on a tour of the White House.