NASSAU, Bahamas — There were supposed to be 300 guests and a parade of stars. Hundreds of locals and tourists gathered near the church preparing for a show, hoping to spot Hugh Hefner, Patti LaBelle, Boyz II Men and Michael Bolton.
But fewer than 100 guests — and no stars that anyone could recognize — turned up for Anna Nicole Smith's funeral in Nassau on Friday, an extravagant ceremony that brought the world's eyes onto the simple Baptist church and the now-famous hillside cemetery where she is buried.
Bahamians, who have tired of the media attention during recent weeks, now consider Smith part of their community. On Friday, they mourned her as one of their own.
Hundreds showed up at the church to watch the arrivals, and about 1,000 people, mostly locals, pressed against the barricades surrounding Lakeview Memorial Gardens, where the burial took place inside a green tent, the view blocked by stretch limousines and SUVs.
Undaunted, the crowd made itself a part of the spectacle, erupting in cheers and chants of "LAR-RY DAD-DY" when Smith's ex-boyfriend, Larry Birkhead, arrived, and lustily booing when Smith's mother, Virgie Arthur, pulled up. Vendors trawled the crowd, hawking candy bars and ice cream, fruit medley and plastic containers of tuna salad.
Arthur filed an emergency motion to stop the funeral Friday morning, but a Bahamas judge quashed the request.
Bahamians feel protective of Smith, whom they said chose to be buried in their community. Some chastised Arthur for wanting to take her elsewhere against her daughter's wishes.
When the casket arrived, the raucous crowd broke out in "When peace like a river," a traditional Bahamian burial song. Not long after Arthur's arrival, they began another tune, singing: "It is finished, the battle is over/There will be no more."
Cameras mounted on cranes and ladders captured the arrivals at Mount Horeb Baptist Church, a flamboyant crowd of the almost-famous and close-to-famous, many wearing pink and black satin ribbons pinned to their lapels in honor of Smith.
The private service was closed to all but guests and cameras from Entertainment Tonight and Splash TV. At the burial site, two Bahamian journalists picketed in protest, claiming the local media was shut out of the event. Other media stood atop spindly scaffolds and climbed rocky slopes to get a shot of the action.
Smith's casket arrived in a white hearse with whitewall tires and gleaming chrome rims. Six pallbearers in pink ties carried the shining wood casket draped with a pink coverlet trimmed in feathers and ribbons, her name spelled out in rhinestone script.
The casket entered and exited the church on a red carpet; inside, Smith was said to be wearing a custom-designed dress and a tiara.
A few men rolled up the red carpet after the ceremony — a fitting funeral gesture for a woman who rose to fame as a Playboy Playmate and would-be heiress, who idolized Marilyn Monroe and died suddenly at 39.
Attendees said the closed-casket ceremony was full of music and heartfelt tributes, most notably from Smith's longtime partner Howard K. Stern, who spoke for 15 minutes and then gently kissed her coffin. Stern, normally reserved in public, broke into tears when Smith's coffin passed on the way into the hearse. Beside him, Birkhead — who is fighting Stern in California and Bahamas courts for custody of Smith's daughter, 6-month-old Dannielynn — remained somber and composed.
In his eulogy, Stern called Smith "my rock," and said he wished that God had taken him instead.
"Sometimes it felt like it was us against the world," Stern said, according to an excerpt of his eulogy printed on Entertainment Tonight's Web site.
"I can't believe that you're gone and you're not here to protect anyone, and honestly, sometimes I don't know how I'm gonna go on, but I know that my work isn't done. I still have to protect you, I have to protect your wishes, I have to protect your name, and most of all, I have to protect Dannielynn, and I promise you, as long as I'm still breathing, I will, no matter who comes at me.
"You and I, we know the truth. We lived it, and that's all that matters. When my work is done, I promise you, I will come home to you again, both you and Daniel. I love you."
Arthur also spoke at the service, and attendees said her speech was inaudible through tears. Outside the church, dressed in a plain black dress and short jacket, she appeared grim but not teary.
It was choice theater, and onlookers ate it up.
"This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," said Minneapolis-area resident Lisa Follmer, 43, who is on vacation in the Bahamas. "There aren't many celebrity funerals in Minnesota."
Follmer and three friends talked about the funeral Thursday night over bingo and decided to attend.
Bahamians, for the moment, seemed to be reveling in the attention and tourist dollars that Smith's funeral has attracted.
"No government could afford the publicity that Anna Nicole brought," said Nassau resident Alice Harris, 39.
Many said they plan to visit the grave site where Smith now lies beside her son, Daniel, who died suddenly last fall. And a company is already offering an Anna Nicole Taxi Tour, taking people past her grave, the hospital where her son died and the home she shared with Stern.
"We're blessed to have a celebrity like this," said Fanny Pletka, a Mount Horeb choir member who sang at the funeral. "She's a part of us now, and we've embraced her."