I just wanted to start a thread for people to share their Celebration stories that took place at Paisley Park in 2001. In 2001 era I was on a Prince fan hiatus so I did not attend although I wish I would have in retrospect. The first time I ever found out about it was by watching that Kevin Smith speech and was blown away that Prince actually had sit down disscussions with fans. That would have been so cool to attend even though I confess, the Rainbow Children is up there with my least favorite Prince albums but it would have been cool to be a part of the experience regardless as a fan. Please share!

Thanks so much myname!!!! I actually remember watching this on channel 9 right after he passed away. It was nice to see again. I think when the Celebration was going on I had just got a new waitressing gig and was living with a then boyfriend...alot going on...wish I could have attended but at least I got to see him in concert later on. Yay!

mynameisnotsusan said:

So I stumbled across this cool interview i hadn't seen before where it sounds like he is talking about the upcoming Celebration 2001

Actually, he's talking about the 2000 Celebration. I was at the Northrop concert the 13th of June, 2000. Took a tour of Paisley Park, met some of the band members. Most of what happened during the 2000 Celebration happened in the Love4OneAnother room, but a friend of mine and I were talking to some of the body guards in the bigger room when we heard someone clearing their throat from across the room. We all turned to look and it was Prince, looking at his body guards like, "Hey, I'm over here you fools." His mom was present during this celebration and I talked with her, Morris Hayes, and just had a really good time.

Benni thanks for sharing your story. Wow you got to speak to the woman who bore Prince???!! That is so cool in and of itself.

panpac777 said:

I have photos of fans at both the 2000 and 2001 lake Ann park near paisley park barbecue get togethers during the celebration week events. If anyone needs photos that went. Send org note for arranging copies if needed. Or if we setup a celebration events page here online I can post them on here. Thanks Michelle Forever in your life with sir jack is my biggest memory and all the fans showing off their tattoos!

Wasn't Sir Jack the Prince look-a-like? If he was, during the 1st Celebration, the girl he danced with that was a belly dancer (in the L4OA room), was my friend. It was fun watching the two of them together and everyone's reactions to them.

Krystalkisses said:

Benni thanks for sharing your story. Wow you got to speak to the woman who bore Prince???!! That is so cool in and of itself.

Yes, it was cool. She was sitting on a raised dais in the L4OA room and I sat down at the bottom of the steps leading up to the dais, putting my leg on the bottom step to elevate it (as it was swollen - all those concrete floors and blood clots, not a good mixture). One of the body guards moved towards me to ask me to move but she stopped him and told him to let me stay, that I was obviously not going to do anything but rest. I didn't realize she was his mom at that time and was thanking her for letting me sit there and struck up a conversation with her. It didn't dawn on me at the time to wonder why the body guard was looking out for her. But we found out we were both social workers, so we talked about that some and she said something to me that I'll never forget, "As social workers, our role is to bring a little peace, love, and compassion to everyone we meet." It wasn't until someone else came over to the dais and sat next to her, calling her Mattie, that I realized who she was. I apologized for not recognizing her and for "bothering her" and she told me to not be silly, the fact I didn't know who she was and was still so sweet to her said more about me than if I'd been sweet to her knowing who she was. I never got that, but thanked her for the conversation and since the body guard was giving me the side eye everytime I moved I told her I was doing better and should get back to celebrating.

lovely story benni. seems like she was a part of prince's wanting to work in the community, to spread the peace,love and compassion.

Great story benni. God bless you and her for being able to do Social Work. That is a tough job for sure. Sounds like she was a big hearted lady.