For Cassie O’Hara and Diana Pheasant, nothing measures up to the Kitsap County Fair. It’s in their blood.

Both women are members of the Kitsap County Fair Board and each have a specific assignment for this year’s event — O’Hara will oversee the livestock barns and shows, and Pheasant is in charge of all the entertainment.

They are both second- generation supporters. O’Hara’s father, Leroy O’Hara, was director of livestock for many years. Pheasant’s father, Stan Johnson, was the fair director in the 1970s and early 1980s.

“There’s still that little girl inside us that wants to make our daddy proud,” said O’Hara. “My dad’s no longer here, but our passion for the fair comes from our fathers.”

Pheasant, who grew up on the Kitsap County Fair, moved away for many years and, four years ago, came back to be a part of it again when she joined the board.

O’Hara has been at every Kitsap County Fair except one in the past 43 years. She began showing sheep in 1971 and had only one year — 2001 — when another obligation took her elsewhere.

She showed the very first Grand Champion lamb in 1976.

Going four generations back, O’Hara’s family has raised sheep in Kitsap County. So naturally, she showed sheep at the fair as a kid. And so did her kids and her grandkids.

“We’ve had a family farm since 1883,” she said. “My dad exhibited sheep when the fair was in Bremerton at Roosevelt Field before the fairgrounds were here.”

As a teen when her father was in charge, Pheasant had a job to do every year.

“All the family was involved,” she said. “We all got assignments. My favorite was running the spin paint booth. Back in those days, there wasn’t a very big budget for the fair and dad lived and breathed the fair. So everybody helped out however they could.”

Her family members painted signs that were hung on the barns.

Although both their fathers served on the fair board at the same time, the daughters didn’t know each other in those days. They’ve only become friends since they joined the board four years ago. They also have aunts, uncles and cousins who have been, and are active in the fair.

In fact, Pheasant is a cousin of Sunny Saunders who, with her husband Gus, are the fair managers.

“It was Sunny who asked me to get back involved with the fair, after she became manager,” said Pheasant. “I decided it was time for me to regenerate my happy days at the fair when I was a child.”

On the other hand, for O’Hara, the fair has never left her life. She’s always been involved helping with the livestock.

“Kitsap County has become more and more urban over the years,” she said. “That’s why it’s important to keep the fair going — to show our rural and agricultural roots.”

As board members, both of the women work year-round on the event. Board meetings are once a month where each member reports on what they’ve accomplished in their specific area. For Pheasant, she begins right after the previous year’s fair ends and attends conferences where agents pitch their talent to her, hoping she’ll book them at the Kitsap County Fair. Once she and the board choose the entertainment acts, she goes to work negotiating contracts.

“There’s very specific rules, like an act can’t perform within 100 miles of us at any other fair within 90 days,” she said. “For The Marshall Tucker Band, I began working with them in late January and just secured them in late July.”

Entertainment also includes down-home fun, like the pie eating contest, which features local dignitaries “getting to be human,” she said.

During the fair, she has to be on the grounds from 7 a.m. to midnight, making sure all performances are going on without a hitch.

O’Hara’s work also happens year round. She works full time as operations manager at Avian Flight and spends many volunteer hours doing her fair job. At home, she’s raising sheep, which are shown by 4Hers. Some who participate in the Market Animal Program, which allows kids to raise animals even though they may not have acreage at home to do so.

During the event, she’s in charge of the dogs, cats, sheep, goats, beef, lamas, mini horses, horses, poultry, swine, cavies and rabbits, the “Pet Me” farm and the exotic-bird barn. She has to make sure that there’s straw and food for the animals, that the show arenas are being used property and cleaned, that the PA systems are working and that there are the appropriate ribbons ready to award to those who show.

She takes her vacation the week of the fair and lives in a camper on the grounds 24/7 in case anything comes up.

Additionally, before it begins, both women and other board members seek out sponsors and work with county commissioners to ensure that they continue to fund the fair. They also host receptions to honor sponsors and volunteers.

“Even though we bring in $87,000 in sponsorships, the county contributes a lot to the maintenance of the fairgrounds throughout the year,” said O’Hara. “And they front us the funds we need to make the fair happen.”

For both women, the enjoyment is well worth the hours they volunteer.

“It’s so important to keep our agricultural heritage alive,” O’Hara said. “And it’s so important to give families and children a good, safe place to be educated and entertained.”

Sometimes, she said, those lessons are hard.

This year, she’s allowed a 4Her to raise and show a lamb named Thelma, which she and her niece bottlefed in its early days.

“Selling Thelma will be one of the hardest things I’ve had to do,” she said of the lamb that will be auctioned at this year’s fair. “It’s part of the lesson that kids who raise livestock learn. It’s not a dog or a cat. It’s not a pet. They learn that from Day 1 this animal has a purpose, and that’s to be raised to be food.

“It’s a hard lesson for them — to love and let go. But it teaches them the heartbreak of being a farmer. And it teaches them that our food supply isn’t just on the shelve at the grocery store. It’s a tremendous amount of work and loss, but it teaches marketing skills and emotional skills too.”

Even with those hard, heartfelt times, both O’Hara and Pheasant plan to be a part of the fair for years to come. And so do the next generations of their families.

“The fair is so much a part of my family that my daughter who lives in New York, who got married right before last year’s fair, put off her honeymoon so she could bring her new husband back for the fair last year,” said O’Hara. “She said she wanted him to see how she grew up.”