Friday is Repeal Day, the 81st anniversary of the end of Prohibition, and Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley wants you to have a drink.
In a press release distributed Friday morning, Cranley urges locals "to celebrate Cincinnati's extensive brewing and distilling heritage by supporting local businesses that serve their favorite adult beverages." (Of course, the mayor also urges adults to "drink responsibly and exercise moderation.")
"In these often troubling times around the country, we can help foster our sense of community by getting together with friends and family at a local business and having a local drink on Repeal Day," Cranley said in the release.
Repeal Day celebrates the ratifying of the 21st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution on Dec. 5, 1933. That repealed the 18th Amendment prohibiting the manufacture, transportation and sale of alcohol.
Cranley has also declared Dec. 5 as "George Remus Bourbon and Rye Whiskey Day" in Cincinnati. Remus, a successful bootlegger during Prohibition, operated mostly from his Price Hill home.
The founders of the locally based George Remus Bourbon and Rye Whiskey company are organizing a campaign to support local breweries, taverns and other businesses that serve alcohol. Supporters are asked to use the Twitter hashtags #DrinkLocal and #RepealDay on Friday.
In honor of the occasion, the mayor's office also provided a few Cincinnati facts:
o The first brewery in the city was built in 1812. About 250 have opened and closed locally since then.
o In 1893, the average beer consumption per Cincinnatian was 40 gallons annually (2.5 times higher than the national average).
o In the 1890s, there was one saloon locally for every 41 adult men.
o In the early 1900s, roughly 40,000 people were employed by the local alcoholic beverage industry.
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