The city's birthday is getting a swing dance party at the Balboa Fun Zone, steps from where the dance style was born.

The Newport Beach Historical Society will host a 120th Anniversary Dinner and Swing Dance on Thursday, Aug. 27, at the Harborside Restaurant and Grand Ballroom, 400 Main St., in the Balboa Fun Zone, according to the Newport Beach Indy. The evening runs from 6 to 11 p.m., with doors opening at 5:30.

Headlining the celebration: Jonathan Stout and His Campus Five, the band behind the Guinness World Record for the World's Largest Swing Dance Lesson set April 19 at Balboa Athletic Field. That day, 579 couples — 1,158 dancers total — broke the previous record of 391 pairs set in England in 2018. Irvine-based Atomic Ballroom organized the record attempt in partnership with Visit Newport Beach.

"The Rendezvous Ballroom may be gone, but its spirit danced with every single one of us today," Ashley Johnson, senior vice president and chief marketing officer of Visit Newport Beach, said at the April 19 record event, as reported by the Daily Pilot.

The connection between the dance and the venue is no accident. The Balboa swing style originated on the Balboa Peninsula in the early 1930s, first danced at the Balboa Pavilion and later at the Rendezvous Ballroom, which hosted big bands on its 12,000-square-foot floor until a 1966 fire destroyed it.

The Aug. 27 program also features the 1930s Balboa Shuffle Dancers, a troupe inspired by Newport Beach's historic swing culture, along with a Balboa dance lesson for guests. The Newport Beach 1920s Bathing Beauties will perform as well, drawing on the seaside glamour of the bathing beauty contests that once drew crowds of more than 25,000 to the streets of Balboa.

Newport Beach incorporated in 1906 by a vote of 44 to 12. The 120th anniversary year has already included the Guinness record event in April and a "120 Years of Welcome" exhibit that opened May 21 at the Balboa Island Museum.

Dinner and dance tickets cost $65 for Historical Society members and $80 for non-members. Dance-only tickets are $25. Seating is first-come, first-served. Tickets are available at newportbeachhistorical.org/events.

The Historical Society, founded in 1967, operates a museum at the Balboa Fun Zone at 600 E. Bay Ave., open Thursday through Sunday from noon to 5 p.m.

Upcoming Newport Beach community events: