National security. The economy. Global warming. Health care. Education. Nuclear detente. The White House Easter Egg Roll. Not all of these issues will top the every voter's list of priorities. But wherever it ranks among public concerns, the 2017 Easter Egg Roll, a tradition since 1878, looms on April 17 as the first big test of the Trump White House's ability to hit the logistical ground running. Because the White House has responsibilities beyond its political agenda, and an administration's ability to staff up and execute are an important test of its functionality.

The egg roll may also reveal something of the sphinx-like First Lady Melania Trump's vision of her role.

The Easter Egg Roll is no picnic. Over the last 139 years, it has grown from an event with "a few local children rolling eggs on the White House lawn" to become the "largest event held at the White House," according to Recreation.gov, a federal government ticketing portal through which White House Egg Roll tickets were awarded last year.

If President Trump's history of crowd envy is any guide, he'll want to take note of the numbers that President Obama racked up: Last year's event involved some 37,000 guests; in Obama's first year, 2009, the White House hosted some 32,000 guests.

The presence of giant bunnies aside, planning for this behemoth is not to be taken lightly.

And the presence of giant bunnies aside, planning for this behemoth is not to be taken lightly. A former White House official described it like this: "You have 35,000 or more people coming in, so you're coordinating five different time slots, each of 7,000 to 8,000 people. Programming for each time slot, 7 or 8 stages, 5 consecutive two-hour events, activity zone, sports."

The Obamas entertained the Easter Bunny at the White House in 2016. Getty Images

Over the years, the event has featured celebrities like J.K. Rowling reading to one group of kids (something tells us the Harry Potter author won't be there this year) and Shaq shooting hoops with another. Justin Bieber appeared, as did Power Rangers, Joe Jonas, and Troy Aikman. Coordinating all of this effort are 1,000 volunteers, all of whom have to be recruited and screened for security. Then there are also about 30 security checkpoints that have to be manned by Secret Service teams, which requires planning and staffing.

As of this week, the first step in the process, the complex ticket lottery, has not yet happened. Though Easter was earlier last year, the ticket lottery had been completed by late February. Whitehouse.gov/eastereggroll states simply: "Thank you for your interest in this subject. STAY TUNED AS WE CONTINUE TO UPDATE WHITEHOUSE.GOV." (Update 3/8: The White House announced that the Egg Roll is officially scheduled for April 17th. No details about the lottery have yet been released.)

"I have no idea where they are, but to continue in the new model that was set in the last eight years, it is a massive amount of work," said Ebs Burnough, deputy social secretary in the Obama White House from 2009 to 2011. "The planning of that is a massive undertaking."

Experts say there is still time to pull it off. But the conspicuous lack of activity suggests that the Trump White House at this point is either well behind on its planning or secretly taking the event in a new direction.

It should come as no surprise that the uncertainty has inspired some clucking in Washington—and, of course, Tweeting—about the state of planning for the Trump White House Easter Egg Roll. For example, Wells Wood Turning, a Maine company that produced as many as 75,000 to 100,000 wooden eggs for most of the last 10 White House rolls, has tweeted at President and First Lady as well as Ivanka Trump, with a plaintive request for news. "FYI manufacturing deadlines for the Easter eggs are near. Please reach out!" read one on Feb. 20,

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"It's a channel of communication, just a gentle nudge," said Simon Varney, one of Wells' new owners (the company changed hands late last year). "Ideally we would like to have heard by now. At the same time we understand there is a transition going on and so we are being patient and hopeful." Varney has been in contact with the Trump Administration "to some degree and we have spoken to some people a bit, but there seems to be folks just aren't quite sure yet on the specifics of the program."

Collectible eggs from the 2014 White House egg roll. Getty Images

To be sure, the Trump White House has already handled the inauguration, but it's worth noting that Congress handles much of that carefully choreographed peaceful transfer of power from an exiting President to the successor who vowed to overturn his proudest achievements. Followed by a lavish lunch with the President's frenemies in Congress. So the Inauguration tableau showed us relatively little about the Trump vision and execution of official public events beyond the campaign-like rallies for which he's famous—and for which the Secret Service can be relied upon to handle key details.

On the White House lawn in 2015 Getty Images

In the past, the Egg Roll has been officially run by the White House Visitors Office, which was part of the West Wing bureaucracy under President Obama, and not part of the First Lady's East Wing apparatus, as some have said. First Lady Michelle Obama did take an active role in the event, though, urging its expansion to accommodate families from all over the country instead of primarily from the Washington area.

Although Melania Trump's staffing and responsibilities have been sketched out for the public in only the most minimal way so far, the recent announcement that the Visitors Office will reopen March 7 was in her name. "I am excited to reopen the White House to the hundreds of thousands of visitors who come each year. The White House is a remarkable and historic site and we are excited to share its beauty and history. I am committed to the restoration and preservation of our Nation's most recognizable landmark," she said.

While awaiting word from the White House, the public can rest assured that at least one senior Trump White House official has intimate experience with the White House Easter Egg Roll. Press Secretary Sean Spicer, who had no immediate comment for this story, including what follows, once personally donned the sweaty Easter Bunny costume for the event during the George W. Bush Administration. Thanks to the aforementioned unofficial ‏@wheastereggroll Twitter account, there is a photo to prove it.

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Timothy J. Burger is a crisis communications consultant and writer who spent over 20 years as a staff correspondent in Washington, D.C. for publications including Time, the New York Daily News, Roll Call and Bloomberg News. He is also the bass player in the D.C. journalist band Suspicious Package.



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Timothy J. Burger Timothy Burger is a crisis communications consultant and writer who spent over 20 years as a staff correspondent in Washington, D.C.

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