The White House Easter Egg Roll has been a Washington, DC, tradition since 1878. While the event skipped a few years, local Girl Scouts have been an Egg Roll fixture since the 1920s.
Local troops remember meeting First Lady Grace Coolidge’s pet raccoon, Rebecca, in 1927.
In 1928, their duties were spelled out in a letter from Captain (leader) Adah Bagby. Three years earlier, Grace Coolidge had replaced White House police officers with Girl Scouts and assigned them to locate “lost parents.”
Also in 1928, Mrs. Coolidge noticed the rose troop crest on the girls’ uniform and gave each girl a rose from the Rose Garden.
The Girl Scouts performed a May Pole dance during the 1929 Easter Egg Roll, much to the delight of First Lady Lou Henry Hoover.
The dancing Girl Scouts must have been a hit. They performed a square dance during the rainy 1931 event.
In recent decades, Girl Scouts have returned to their child-wrangling role.
Has your troop ever worked at the Easter Egg Roll? We need some newer photos!
©2017 Ann Robertson
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