The slender 15-year-old with the sculpted cheekbones of a model smoothed the heavy, beaded gown over her hips and scrutinized her image. With her backside turned to the front, she cast a skeptical eye first over her shoulder to the mirror then toward the pale-blue satin draped over her mother's arms.

After a long pause and a couple of double-takes, she had come to a decision.

"Let's get both!" she declared.

At $50 each, why not? Especially, when neither gown had ever been worn and one still carried a price tag of $3,500.

The Hampton High School sophomore, who pleaded for anonymity -- "I don't want my friends to know I only paid $50" -- had no immediate purpose for either dress but liked the idea of adding them to her closet. "They're beautiful and such a deal," said her mother.

"Oooh, look at that peach one with the beads,'' said one teen, peering through a window of the makeshift boutique inside the Cranberry Municipal Center on Rochester Road. "I like the turquoise one,'' countered her friend.

They were among a throng of some 350 bargain-hunters from places like Butler and Oakmont, Trafford and Valencia, who had heard of the sale and had begun jamming the hallways of the township building before the doors even opened. Each wanted a crack at one of 110 formal-wear items that were donated by a local shopkeeper to a Cranberry civic group as a fundraiser.

To keep order, volunteers handed out numbers to shoppers, who then were admitted to the "store" in groups of 20 in an effort to prevent overcrowding and damage to the dresses.

The "Run for the Gowns" sale, as it was billed, lasted from noon to 4 p.m. and was held in the teen-senior center building. Volunteers from the Cranberry Township Community Chest, a nonprofit that supports local charitable groups, had sorted the dresses by size and had arranged them on racks.

Though a few dresses had lost their price tags, most carried the original tags and ranged from $250 to $3,500. Every dress was sold for $50.

"It's pretty exciting,'' said CTCC Secretary Gretchen Moran, who organized the sale, as she surveyed the crowd.

Kelsey Reynolds, 18, of Pine, was the first to shop, having arrived at 7:15 a.m. She bagged a black and gold sequined gown that prompted oohs and aahs from other shoppers in the makeshift, industrial-sized fitting room where privacy was nonexistent. "We love a bargain!" said a gleeful Cindy Reynolds, Kelsey's mom.

Maria Garcia, 18, of McCandless, was on the hunt for a prom dress and settled on a peach floor-length with iridescent sequins: originally $325. "If you can get a deal like this, why not? This whole prom thing costs, when you figure in the hair, the nails and everything else,' said her mother, Kim Garcia.

Ray Schratz of Butler said he was "ecstatic" that his 16-year-old daughter, Caitlin, who attends St. Joseph High School in Natrona Heights, had found a $279 prom dress for $50. The black-and-white gown "fits like a glove," Caitlin said.

Lorena Shawgo, 34, of Callery, bought an ivory, sleeveless wedding gown for her upcoming marriage on June 23. She and her fiance, Don Adams, are raising three boys (two from his first marriage and one from her's) and Ms. Shawgo said she had no intent of "spending thousands on a wedding dress." She only spent $50 but the dress's price tag read $2,200.

Though yesterday's sale ended at 4 p.m., it will continue from 3 to 5 p.m. today and each day through Thursday, until all the dresses are sold. The prices will decrease by $10 each day, such that dresses will be sold for $40 each today and $10 each on Thursday. A local church that operates an outreach effort has asked for any that remain.

By day's end yesterday, about 40 dresses had been sold. Remaining sizes ranged from 4 to 22.