CHARLESTON —  If Charleston’s Charlie had hoped for his friends and loved ones to laugh at his funeral, the fish statue’s wishes were granted.

At what was likely the most bizarre wake ever held for an 8-foot tuna, people celebrated the life and death of the icon with music, poetry, a heavy dose of dark humor and bowls full of fish-shaped chocolate cookies.

The ceremony took place Saturday afternoon, in front of the Charleston Visitor’s Center.

Charlie, who once stood on the east side of the Charleston bridge, was dismembered in early June in a prank that went horribly wrong for both the pranksters and the tuna.

The entire saga of Charlie’s demise was immortalized in a song that kicked off the wake. Written and performed by Harry Stamper, “Charlie’s Last Ride” described how he was stolen and returned. The crowd of more than 20 people joined in, following Stamper’s words on sheets of white printer paper. Many of the mourners held calla lilies in their hands as they sang.

“He was standing by the bridge, minding his own business when they carried poor Charlie away. Well, did he ever return ... Oh, yes, he finally returned. But his condition was no longer one A. He still had his grin and he still had his tie. But the rest was all sliced wooden fillets,” Stamper and the group sang.

Charleston Merchants Association member Mel Campbell, a small woman with short white hair, welcomed mourners to the “somber occasion,” which included an open casket. Charlie, in pieces, filled the plywood casket and was surrounded by mementos, including a fishing net, a box of tuna casserole, rubber galoshes and the patriotic hat he once wore for the Fourth of July.

“We didn’t expect to find him,” Campbell said.

Charlie spent about 22 years guarding the bridge, said Rusty Shield, the president of the Merchants Association and a local firefighter.

“We thought he was out spawning but we found out he’d been kidnapped,” Shield joked. “He’s been a good icon for Charleston. ... We never heard him complain once about the snow and rain and sleet. Every once in a while he would grumble ... but that’s fish for you.”

Shield said Charlie will be cremated at a later date and his ashes will be buried at the visitors center, where they will be marked by a head stone. A chainsaw carver soon will create Charlie’s grandson, who will take his place as Charleston’s favorite icon. There was some talk of cremating the statue at sea, but representatives from the U.S. Coast Guard and the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality saw it as a bad idea, Campbell said.

The mourners, who each received kazoo-like party favors, tooted for Charlie at Campbell’s direction, before she asked everyone to sing “That ole blue fish ain’t what he used to be.”

“That was very touching,” Campbell said.

In line to pay her respects to the fish, mourner Heather Freeman of Coos Bay said she attended the funeral to say goodpbye to Charlie.

“We love Charlie. He’s just part of Charleston,” Freeman said.

She said she found the funeral to be an appropriate and touching ceremony for the statue.

“He’s a status symbol of Charleston. He deserves the recognition,” Freeman said.

Some mourners took their sorrow over Charlie’s death a little further than others. Dressed all in black, her face hidden by a lacy black veil, Jane Porter of Coos Bay approached the dismembered tuna and threw her head arms onto the corpse as if possessed by great sadness. But even she said it was all in good fun.

“There will never be another Charlie,” Porter said. “I think it’s encouraging that so many have appeared and have enjoyed and have missed Charlie and are happy to know there will be another.”

Ruth Barker, who graced the ceremony with a poem she wrote in an hour, said she wasn’t upset with the men who stole and cut up Charlie, but she hoped they learned their lesson. She said she wants them to pay restitution or provide donations toward a new Charlie.

“They are not like bad, bad, bad people,” she said. “I think it was, of course, a wrong thing to do.”

Barker, a member of the Wild Women of Charleston, as well as the treasurer of the Merchants Association, said she was pleased with the turnout and saw the event as good publicity for the area.

As the event came to a close, Stamper said he wrote the song for Charlie because — the tuna deserved it.

“He kept us safe for a long time,” Stamper said. “He was a source of pride, inspiration and humor.”