Don't blink at the start of Bigfork's annual Easter egg hunt, you might miss the whole thing.

Despite the fact that area children managed to vacuum up nearly 1,000 eggs in mere minutes, hours and hours of preparation went into making the hunt possible.

The 80 dozen eggs, which were donated by Bigfork Harvest Foods, were first taken to Bigfork Elementary School on Friday, where Bigfork Rebecca Lodge members June Anderson, Merle Harris and Sammie Eastman hard boiled them all.

Anderson said the trio has been part of the tradition for 30 years, much of which Anderson worked in the elementary school kitchen as a cook.

"The school board is very child-oriented and they continue to make it possible for us to do this," she said.

The women have been preparing the eggs for so long, they know that watching water boil — even when there's more than 100 eggs in the pot — just isn't that much fun.

"While we wait for the water we play cards," Anderson said.

From the school's kitchen, the eggs are carted up to the Lake View Care Center, where residents have made it an annual event to dye the eggs the day before the hunt.

The 30 or so residents who participated made quick work of the eggs, turning the plain white shells into a rainbow of blues and greens and yellows in barely over an hour.

Once colored, the eggs are in the hands of the Bigfork Masonic Lodge, which sponsors the event. Members start putting the eggs across the elementary school playground and the hillside below the football field at about 10 a.m., just two hours before the siren sounds.

By a quarter to noon, children lined the fence around the playground, waiting for the noon siren and the opening of the gate.

By 12:02, the playground was free of eggs, having been picked clean by more than 50 children with Easter baskets.