DENVER—Turns out that the White House Easter Bunny two weeks ago was a big-time Republican from Windsor.
Jerry Helgeson donned the costume for the Easter Egg Roll on the White House lawn April 12—then kept mostly silent about it before confessing his role to The Greeley Tribune.
“The bunny head was a little claustrophobic,” Helgeson said. “You can’t see out very well, and can’t breathe normally, and it was very hot.”
Helgeson, president of American Eagle Distributing, didn’t vote for Barack Obama. But he got the job through his niece, Ellie Schafer, who is director of the White House Visitor’s Office. He sent a letter of congratulations when she got that post, adding, “Maybe I can be the Easter Bunny sometime.”
Two weeks before Easter, Helgeson learned was going to be the Bunny. Security checks followed, then a walkthrough and a trying on of the suit—no easy task for the 6-foot-5 Helgeson.
On Easter, he showed up at 6 a.m., appeared on the front balcony of the White House for the national anthem, then met the first family.
Obama’s youngest daughter, Sasha, “was a little afraid of the big bunny,” Helgeson said, “so she and I went into a room where the other kids couldn’t see, and I took off the bunny head and showed her the Easter Bunny was Ellie’s uncle.”
From the balcony, Obama tried to talk, but the microphones weren’t working. Helgeson said the president whispered into a bunny ear, “Jerry, have you got a mike in there that works?”
Thousands of families attended the event, and Helgeson wore the hot suit for 12 hours. He had to change once because he was soaked.
Helgeson has some 250 photos and a ton of memories about the roll to tell his grandchildren.
Asked whether he’d vote next time for Obama, he said: “I still don’t agree with some of his ideas.
“But he sure has a nice family.”
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Information from: Greeley Daily Tribune,
