2010 Easter Egg Roll Dates Announced

While those of us in the DC area are still trying to figure out which Norse gods we've angered, and why they continue to assault us with wave after wave of snowstorms, it would be appropriate to take a look ahead at the upcoming spring.

Most immediate is the annual White House Easter Egg Roll. An Easter tradition since Dolly Madison's time, the Egg Roll was moved by to the White House Lawn by Lemonade Lucy Rutherford in 1878. A fun fact: Lucy Rutherford was such a strict temperance advocate that she refused to serve alcohol at White House functions. Well except for when the Russian Grand Duke came. Which is a bummer, because serving a Russian Grand Duke Lemonade could have been one of history's great clashes.

Anyway, back to the present day, the White House has announced that this year's event will be Monday, April 5th. In addition to the traditional egg roll and goofy costumes, events will be focused on Michelle Obama's initiative Let's Move, a program to fight child obesity. So don't plan on lots of chocolate and peeps being handed out.

Now, as we discussed last year, the Obama White House is trying something new with distribution of tickets. No longer will folks be waiting up all night in person trying to snag one of the first-come, first-served tickets. Last year, the White House moved to an online distribution scheme, which was not an unmitigated success. But, learning from their mistakes, this year tickets will be handed out slightly differently. Rather than create a massive on-line traffic jam, folks can register from Thursday, February 24th to Sunday, February 28th. No rush, just make sure you sign up at some point in that time frame at Recreation.gov. Then, on March 1st, a lottery will be held, with results being announced March 4th.

All very simple, and we're happy to see that the White House isn't afraid to ditch last years system for a better one. This new system looks to be fairer and less stressful all around.

Extra! Extra! White House discovers internet!

Normally, if an attraction is valued and people are lining up to see it, prices will simply rise until some sort of harmony between supply and demand is reached. Unfortunately, at least from the perspective of managing demand, this is impossible for most of Washington. People will, quite understandably, rebel if forced to pay $25 a head to go up the Washington Monument, or worse yet, see Congress in action. We end up relying on some sort of hybrid system where a certain amount of tickets are available on-line and the rest reserved for the day of, resulting in the time honored tourist tradition of lining up early in the morning to get tickets to the Washington Monument, the Capitol, Holocaust Memorial Museum, Ford's Theater, and, like some vestigial organ that nobody cares about any more, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing.

So it is with nervous excitement that I learned yesterday that the White House Easter Egg roll will distribute tickets online this year. The idea is that you will no longer have to wait overnight in line on the Ellipse to get a chance to get tickets. By getting them online, this might very well open the experience up to visitors from around the country who plan to be in DC at this time. Previously, tickets were handed out the weekend prior, meaning you were taking a big risk if you tried to plan a visit around the Egg Roll. This should bring some certainty to the process.

The Egg Roll will be Monday, April 13th from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. on the South Lawn. Tickets will be distributed this Thursday, the 26th. No time yet as to when they go online. As before, up to six tickets per person will be distributed, with no more than two adults per group. So you got to bring some kids to get in. Anyone want to borrow mine?

On the downside, for us locals, we're used to having a bit of a monopoly with the Egg Roll. The pool of people able to come from afar to wait in line on a chance is limited, and while it was a madhouse, it was our madhouse. So it goes, and I don't see that we have any right to complain. It's the nation's White House, not ours.

More importantly, by lowering the cost from standing in line for hours to getting lucky online, is the possibility that people might get tickets and not use them. I'd hate for tickets to go unused when this is so popular. Also, at least the line was transparent. If the tickets all go in the first few seconds, how do we know the process was fair? Although I have to say that the White House's credibility is better than Ticketmaster's. For that matter, AIG's credibility may be better than Ticketmaster's.

But I applaud the White House for trying something new this year. I'm eager to see how it goes and hope they continue to build upon this. After all, they can't screw it up any more than Congress did for the Inauguration...