Will Liquor Be Sold at Prince’s Paisley Park During Super Bowl Week?
Tonight (Jan. 8), the city of Chanhassen, Minn., will vote on whether to allow sales of liquor for festivities taking place at Prince's Paisley Park Museum during the week leading up to this year's Super Bowl, which is being held in nearby Minneapolis. The decision is controversial because Prince did not allow alcohol on the premises in his lifetime.
The city will address a proposed motion that reads, "City Council approves an ordinance amending the Paisley Park Museum Planned Unit Development to allow liquor sales at Paisley Park Museum from Monday, January 29, 2018 through Sunday, February 4, 2018 from 7:00 p.m. until 1:00 a.m. with the recommendation of limiting the number of guests to 500 per night."
Back in November, the operators of Paisley Park filed the necessary paperwork with Chanhassen for the purposes of holding events at Prince's estate. “Let’s be clear, the City Council has the responsibility to make the best decision for the city of Chanhassen,” Mayor Danny Laufenberger said. “We’re concerned about public safety. We’re concerned about responsible distribution of alcohol. We’re concerned about Paisley Park respecting the ordinance that is in place.”
Although alcohol was banned from Paisley Park, Prince wasn't entirely a teetotaler. In the aftermath of his death, James Lundstrom, a fellow member of his Jehovah's Witness congregation, said that Prince would occasionally "drink a little red wine – no beers." Lundstrom added that Scotch made him recoil. "Talking about Scotch, he was like, 'Are you nuts? I tried that once; it's disgusting!' [I said,] 'What kind did you get? You've got to get the right stuff, man.' We went round and round about that."
The Super Bowl will be held at Minneapolis' U.S. Bank Stadium on Feb. 4., and Prince's hometown team, the Minnesota Vikings, will face the New Orleans Saints on Sunday, Jan. 14. It will be a rematch of the 2010 NFC Championship, where Prince's "Purple and Gold" may have accidentally jinxed the Vikings.