Inspiring Story: Sharon Wins a Stay at the Purple Rain House

Sharon Carter (67) doesn’t usually enter contests. She sees them as a waste of time since she’s never believed herself to be lucky. But when she heard that Airbnb was hosting a special contest having to do with her favorite musical artist, she had to enter. 

For a limited time last year, Prince’s Minneapolis house, which was featured in the “Purple Rain” film, was opened to guests. And Sharon was one of 25 lucky people to win a stay at the iconic location, retrofitted with Prince’s favorite fragrances, legendary costumes, an original demo recording, and much more. 

We caught up with Sharon, a now retired IT Specialist for the Department of Energy, to hear about her once-in-a-lifetime experience and the pleasant surprises tech can bring your way, including getting to share her experience with other superfans online and on a podcast. 

What draws you to Prince as a fan? 

I have been a Prince fan since 1979. I was born the same year as him so I could relate to most of his song lyrics as they related to various signs of the times. He was a musical genius who played multiple instruments, sang, danced, composed, and basically did it all. The thing that impressed me the most was his amazing live concerts. He was sexy and never boring!  

I could not believe that I was one of only 25 winners. It felt like a dream. As a Prince fanatic/fam (fan), I felt honored to stay at the Purple Rain House. I wanted to represent my local fan club, LovesexyDC, and experience everything the venue had to offer. 

 What was your stay at the Purple Rain house like?  

Once I was notified that I won the contest to stay in Prince’s Purple Rain House, I had 24 hours to accept the prize and book my stay on the Airbnb website. I invited my daughter, Brittany (at right in the photo), and my friend, Tyra (at left in the photo) to stay with me. The contest only allowed us a one-night stay. We arrived at the Purple Rain House and were greeted by a surly security guard who assured us that there would be security guards on duty all night. 

We screamed when we entered the front door. All we could hear was Prince’s voice from the room speakers saying, “Dearly Beloved, we are gathered here today to get through this thing called life.” This intro to the song, “Let’s Go Crazy,” plays loudly every time the front door is opened. Brittany and Tyra went straight to work reading the written instructions and QR codes left for us.   

We vowed to stay up all night! And without bothering to unpack, we set out to see every room in the house.   

The modern kitchen was stocked with coffee, tea, Lake Minnetonka bottled water, purple pancake mix, Doritos, and all of Prince’s favorite candies. The main floor bathroom spa had the claw foot bathtub from the video, “When Doves Cry.”   

Then we entered the Darling Nikki bedroom complete with red lights, a round bed with a microphone overhead, and the original Darling Nikki song lyrics on the wall. I am not kidding when I say also hanging on the wall, literally, were “so many devices; everything that money could buy.”  

The upstairs dressing room had makeup, outfits, and accessories for us to try on. Prince’s own outfits were on display behind glass for safe keeping. We each did our best to try on every outfit. I commend them for including outfits in a wide range of sizes.   

The Kid’s cassette player was near his bed. So, we played the tape. It was the lady crying playing backwards just like in the movie. A nice touch. 

As the evening went on, we ordered food from “Darling”, the restaurant designated for us. The organizers partnered with Prince’s former private chefs to create a menu of “The Kid’s” favorite foods. The hosts provided a generous gift card for our meals.   

We then settled into the sunken living room sofa in front of the big screen TV. What a thrill to watch the Purple Rain movie in the actual Purple Rain House! I managed to stay awake until around 1:30a.m. We all woke up around 3:30am.  By 5:00am, we had tea and coffee and were ready to party. We fired up the iPad music playlist.   

There were instructions challenging us to find a secret room which we eventually did. It was a small den decked out with clues and treasures. There were challenging trivia questions that had to be answered correctly in order to win a prize. I quit several times, but Brittany and Tyra convinced me to keep trying. We eventually cracked the code and found the prize.    

We ran back upstairs to try on the rest of the fabulous wardrobe. Eventually we took a break and had breakfast. As our time in the Airbnb grew short, we took one last tour of the house, taking as many pictures as we could.   

By 12:00 noon, we were all packed up, dressed, and ready to leave our lovely Airbnb. I thought that I might tear up and be very sad to leave, but I was just so happy to be there I could not stop smiling.  Thank you, Airbnb. Thank you, Wendy and Lisa. Thank you, Prince.   

What technology was involved in this experience?  

I used the Airbnb app to create an account profile (since I have never stayed at an Airbnb before), enter the contest, and, after winning, accept the prize, book the reservation, sign agreements, and provide preferences, etc.  

I used Facebook to post about the experience and “The Great Purple Ride” Facebook page to book a ride to the Purple Rain House. I felt that riding with a familiar, expert Prince tour guide would be better than possibly being dumped out of an Uber and left standing outside before being allowed to enter the house at our designated time.  

Senior Planet’s motto is “Aging with Attitude.” What does that mean to you? 

I think it means not dwelling on my age (after all 60 is the new 40), trying to stay healthy, enjoying my retirement, activating my bucket list, being with family, and enjoy being the Prince fan girl that I am as often as I can. 

Pam Hugi is Senior Planet’s Community and Advocacy Manager. Based in Brooklyn, she is a contributing writer for this site.