In the meantime, vendors at the San Diego County Fair remembered the death of the man they considered a master of his craft. His famous intro of “Hi. Billy Mays here,” was seen through millions of household televisions throughout the coutry. He pitched tons of products from detergents to insurance. At the fair, pitchmen trying to be like Billy, were hit hard from his death, especially vendor Alan Rappoport.

“He never forgot where he came from. He took care of every pitchman that needed help. We’re going to miss him dearly,” said Rappoport.

Rappoport said that he worked with Billy for ten years travelling from state-to-state, fair-to-fair. He said he also worked with Billy years ago. “We worked right in there. The wash-matic we worked. It was a car wash thing. We worked it here. That was 25 years ago,” he said.

He said he woke up devastated by Mays’ death. Which is why his nametag also says “in memory of Billy.” “Remember him well, he was a good man,” he said.

Black ribbons were also placed on the booths of vendors selling detergents, sweepers, cheese-mills, and “sham-wows.” For vendors at the fair, he was the “father of the pitchman.” “He brought a little bit of light to what we do in this business,” said vendor Teresa Maxwell. “Billy would stand behind a product, that he thought was a good product, and if he didn’t like it, he wouldn’t sell it,” said vendor Jason Pappas. “He was exciting, and it made the product exciting. So when people see the excitement, they want to get involved,” said vendor Mike Day.