The President. Hello, everybody! Well, happy Easter.
Audience members. Happy Easter!
The President. We are so blessed to have this beautiful day and to have so many friends in our backyard. And Malia and Sasha, they had a little school stuff going on today, but they wanted to send their love. Bo and Sunny are here, along with the Easter Bunny. And this is always one of our favorite events. We hope you guys are having fun.
This is a particularly special Easter Egg Roll because we've actually got a birthday to celebrate. It is the fifth anniversary of the First Lady's "Let's Move!" initiative. And to help us celebrate we've got the outstanding young group, Fifth Harmony, here to help us sing "Happy Birthday." Everybody ready to sing "Happy Birthday"?
All right. Fifth Harmony!
Audience members. Yeah!
Camila Cabello. Thank you so much to the President and First Lady for having us it is such an honor and so incredibly cool to be singing at the White House. Thank you so much.
Lauren Jauregui. Woo! We're so honored to be here to help sing Mrs. Obama's initiative a happy birthday. We think it's really cool that she helps people all over the Nation want to be active and want to be healthy. It's really awesome.
Normani Hamilton. And because of this special occasion, we wanted to present you guys a birthday cake.
[At this point, the members of First Harmony presented a cake to Mrs. Obama and made brief remarks.]
The President. Are we ready to sing?
Camila Cabello. Yes!
The President. Let's do it!
Camila Cabello. Are you going to sing with us?
The President. Sure.
[Fifth Harmony sang "Happy Birthday."]
The President. Yay!
Normani Hamilton. Happy Easter!
The First Lady. Oh, my God, that was so good! Let's give Fifth Harmony a round of applause. Yay!
The President. Yay!
The First Lady. Well, you guys, welcome to the Easter Egg Roll. And as you've heard, this is the fifth anniversary of "Let's Move!" And we're celebrating by taking over the Easter Egg Roll with hashtag #Gimme Five. And for those of you who don't know about the Gimme Five challenge, that's the fun, exciting way that we're trying to get the whole country to celebrate the fifth birthday of "Let's Move!" And we're asking Americans of all ages to give me five ways they're leading a healthier life: five jumping jacks, eating five new vegetables, maybe doing a Gimme Five dance. You name it. And go on and Instagram it, hashtag #GimmeFive, and then challenge somebody else.
We've had so much fun doing this challenge. Beyoncé has done it. Michael Strahan has done it. Everybody's joining. Ryan Seacrest. So be a part of the movement. It's fun. It's a great way to get everybody moving.
So I want to thank you guys for coming. I want to thank all of the staff and all the volunteers. Give it up for our volunteers——
The President. Yay!
The First Lady. ——who worked so hard to put this together.
And I want you to enjoy this day. Take advantage of all of the great activities, the cooking stage we have over there. I'm going to be over at the main stage in a few minutes, and we're going to be doing the Gimme Five dance with the "So You Think You Can Dance" all-stars and mentors. So I hope you guys have been learning the steps, because we're going to do it over there in just a few minutes. So I hope you join me over there.
We're going to turn this backyard into a huge Gimme Five flash mob. Are you ready for that?
Audience members. Yeah!
The First Lady. All right. Well, with that, we're going to get down there and do some Easter egg rolling. You guys, thank you so much. Have a great time. And Happy Easter! Love you!
NOTE: The President spoke at 10:55 a.m. from the South Portico at the White House. In her remarks, the First Lady referred to musician Beyoncé G. Knowles-Carter; television and radio host Ryan J. Seacrest; and Michael A. Strahan, former defensive end, National Football League's New York Giants.
Barack Obama, Remarks at the White House Easter Egg Roll Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/310691