Spoonful of Ingenuity Pays Off as Bush Whistle Starts Egg Roll

WASHINGTON —  President Bush blew a whistle and eight youngsters charged across a stretch of White House lawn this morning, pushing hard-boiled eggs with plastic spoons.

But for one contestant, 7-year-old Michael Angel, the annual Easter Egg Roll was an Easter Egg Run. He sprinted across the 10-yard course with his egg in the spoon.

“He’s pretty’s cool,” Michael said afterwards of the race starter, who made a brief appearance with his wife, Barbara, as parents and children craned their necks to see them.

Thousands of youngsters spilled over the White House lawn in the annual Easter Monday ritual that began in the 19th Century. At least 20,000 were expected by day’s end.

Marshall Bush, the president’s granddaughter who turns 4 next month, was in the same race with Michael Angel and his 5-year-old sister, Mia. Both girls used the more conventional approach of pushing the egg forward with the spoon instead of running with it.

President Bush started only one of the races, expected to continue through the day.

Mia Angel said the President was “fun,” but “he didn’t shake my hand.” A stepbrother, Jason Planakis, did manage to get a presidential handshake.

Egg rolling was not the only activity on the White House lawn under blue skies and temperatures near 70 degrees. There were clowns, troubadours, an Abe Lincoln look-alike, balloon-blowers, minstrels and a hunt for wooden eggs, many signed by celebrities.

All of the Easter Egg Roll entrants received the same reward: colored wooden eggs bearing the names of George and Barbara Bush.