Remarks by the President and First Lady at the 2016 Easter Egg Roll

South Lawn

10:41 A.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT:  How's everybody doing today?  (Applause.)  Happy Easter!  You guys brought the sun out, so we appreciate that so much.  This is always one of our favorite events of the year.  It's so much fun.  And I don’t want to talk too long, but I do want to make sure that everybody thanks our outstanding Marine band, who does such a great job.  (Applause.)  I want to thank all the volunteers who have helped to make this day possible.  Give them a huge round of applause.  (Applause.)  And I want to thank the First Lady of the United States, Michelle Obama!  (Applause.)  
     
MRS. OBAMA:  Yay!  Thank you, honey.  
     
THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you.
     
MRS. OBAMA:  Here, you take Sunny.  Hi, everybody!  (Applause.)  Happy Easter Egg Roll Day!  Are you all having a good time?
     
AUDIENCE:  Yeah!
     
MRS. OBAMA:  It is going to be perfect weather.  The sun is coming out, which is always a great omen for the day.  We're just thrilled to have you all here.  Today is a little bit bittersweet for us, because this is the Obama administration's last Easter Egg Roll.  
    
AUDIENCE:  Aww --
     
MRS. OBAMA:  Yes.  And if we think about what we've accomplished over these past seven years, it's pretty incredible.  Because when Barack and I first got here, one of the goals that we had was to open up the White House to as many people from as many backgrounds as possible.  So open it up to our kids, to our musicians, to explore our culture, to expose families to healthy living, and to just have a lot of fun.
     
THE PRESIDENT:  And our military families.
     
MRS. OBAMA:  And also to our military families.  I've got the peanut crew back here reminding me of stuff.  But we can't forget all of our military families, who we love, honor and respect, for their service and sacrifice.  (Applause.)  
     
And since we started having Easter Egg Rolls, we've had more than 250,000 people come to this lawn every year.  It's been amazing.  Today we're going to have 35,000 people who will come in and out of the South Lawn over the course of the day.  And we couldn’t be more excited for this last Easter Egg Roll.  We have danced.  We have done yoga.  We've got our Soul Cyclers here.  We've got some tremendous athletes and entertainers and artists who are going to read and play games with you all.  We've got a little "whip" and a little "nae nae" -- or however you do it.  (Laughter.)  Something like that.  
     
So we just want you to have fun.  And the theme this year in our final year is pretty simple.  It's:  Let's celebrate.  Let's celebrate all the good work that we've done, all the great messaging we've had.  All the amazing change that we've seen in this country.  And we want to celebrate our families.  We want to celebrate our nation -- everything that makes us strong.  It's our diversity, it's our values.  That's what makes us strong.  
     
And me and this President, we have been honored to be here as your President and First Lady to be able to host you in our backyard every single year.  So I hope you guys have a terrific time.  We're going to be out there doing a little egg-rolling.  We're going to have a fun-run today.  I'm going to be running around the White House with a bunch of kids -- and any adults who feel like they can hang.  (Laughter.)  You guys can run along with me.  Don’t feel shy.
     
So just have a good time.  And just know that we love you.  We love you all, and we're grateful for the love and support that you've shown us all these years.  So thank you all.  
    
THE PRESIDENT:  Happy Easter, everybody!
     
MRS. OBAMA:  Happy Easter!  (Applause.)  Let's celebrate!
                                       
END           
10:45 A.M. EST