Forest Cullers and his vinegar fries have been a culinary tradition at the Georgia-Carolina State Fair for 54 years. Every year, Mr. Cullers would roll in with the original Cullers' booth, which he built in 1945. The fries are back this year and so is the booth. Mr. Cullers is not. He died in Thomasville, Ga., on Oct. 16, the day the fair opened. He was 83.

Jim Cullers had worked the fry booths with his uncle for 28 years, rising to the rank of manager. His uncle left him the business. On the Augusta Exchange Club Fairgrounds one day after the funeral, Mr. Cullers admitted he is reeling from the loss of family, friend and mentor.

"I'm in mourning," he said quietly, "But I take comfort in knowing there was nothing that went unsaid between us."

Mr. Cullers left during the set-up stage of the fair to say goodbye to his uncle and again on Tuesday for the funeral. The rest of his time he has spent on the midway. It is, he explained, how his uncle would have wanted it.

"We had an agreement that, if it were me, he would do the same," he said.

Joe Taylor, manager of the Georgia-Carolina State Fair, said Mr. Cullers had become part of the landscape. He said he still sees the long and lanky Mr. Cullers perched behind the booth prepping potatoes.

The arrival of Forest Cullers and his vinegar fries are a part of the fair's traditions. Jim Cullers said his uncle was a firm believer in tradition and honor. It was how he lived his life and ran his business.

"Those are the things he taught," he said. "It's how we'll continue. There was no man that had more ethics than Forest Cullers. If he shook your hand and told you something, you could count on it happening."

Jim Cullers said the Georgia-Carolina Fair was special to his uncle. Although the business expanded, often setting up booths at numerous fairs at the same time, he would always come to Augusta and bring the original booth, Cullers' Number One, with him.

"I used to joke with him that in two more payments, that baby would be his," Jim Cullers said.

Today, Jim Cullers brings his own nephew, Tim Cullers, to man Number One. It's his second season on the road. While he's not ready to turn over the reins just yet, he said it's heartening to see a third generation taking an interest in the business.

Augusta resident Ed Turner said he remembers eating the fries as a child and asked for Mr. Cullers every year. He said this year, his favorite fair food tasted bittersweet.

"It's so sad," he said. "But we toasted Mr. Cullers' memory, right there at the fair. We toasted him with an order of fries."