(CNN) — Here’s some background information about the annual White House Easter Egg Roll.
Facts: April 21, 2014 – The 136th White House Easter Egg Roll is scheduled to take place.
Weather permitting, the White House Easter Egg Roll has been held every Monday after Easter on the South Lawn except during WWI and WWII, when it was held at other locations.
For the egg roll race, kids push the eggs through the grass with spoons.
The event is open for children 13 and younger, and their families.
Timeline: Early 1800s – Dolley Madison organizes an Easter egg roll on the Capitol lawn.
1876 – Congress approves the Turf Protection Act, preventing the grounds of the Capitol from being used “as playgrounds.”
1878 – President Rutherford B. Hayes hosts the first White House Easter Egg Roll.
1953 – President Dwight D. Eisenhower revives the Easter egg roll. It was suspended in 1942 because of World War II and later, a White House renovation.
1969 – First Lady Pat Nixon introduces the White House Easter Bunny for the first time.
1985 – Nancy Reagan personally invites a young girl, Jennifer Ledbetter, to the Easter egg roll after a Reagan aide told her she was unwelcome because she supported Walter Mondale.
2001 – The roll is canceled for the first time since 1984 because of rain.
April 17, 2006 – Gay and lesbian parents involved in the Family Pride Coalition attend to “make a positive statement” about gay families.
April 13, 2009 – For the first time, an Internet lottery for tickets is held so that children from around the country may attend. More than 4,000 area schoolchildren take part in the festivities on the White House South Lawn, which is kicked off with a joint appearance by the Obama family and the Easter Bunny on the residence’s famous Truman Balcony.
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