SHARON, Pennsylvania - It's like taking a step back in time. Women in flapper dresses and men in newsboy hats and fedoras sipping beer and wine.

The fifth annual Repeal Day Celebration and Beer Taste at the Corinthian in Sharon celebrates the end of Prohibition, nearly 80 years ago, with costumes and of course, drinks.

"The idea [is] that Repeal Day celebrates the repeal of Prohibition from December 5, 1933," said Nick Baron of the Brotherhood of Appreciating Repeal Day or BOARD. "That allows us to legally drink alcoholic beverages again. And so we thought that was something worth celebrating."

What began as friends sharing craft beers in their kitchens has grown into annual sold-out crowds of 350 people and dozens of brewers. "We had a lot of good beers that we'd never heard about before," said Sarah Kimbell of West Middlesex.

Occurring halfway between Thanksgiving and Christmas, Repeal Day offers an annual adult holiday.

"It's something you don't see a lot of people doing anymore," said Matt Allynn, founder of Voodoo Brewery in Meadville."There's not a lot of recognition to history or past. And the fact that they can generate this many people, I think it's fantastic."

And it's a history lesson. Congress enacted Prohibition in 1920 as a way to curb crime and violence. But it actually did the opposite, giving a boost to organized crime. It was repealed 13 years later.

"That's uniquely an American concept the fact that we went that 13 years without it being legal," Baron said.

The annual event in Sharon raises about $5,000 for the Shenango River Watchers group which protects local tributaries.

And it gives beer aficionados and even the occasional history buff, a reason to raise their glass.