Ginger Gowing and her husband, Clint Fowlkes, host a free dance party on the Waterfront in West Palm on the first Saturday of every month. (Richard Graulich / Palm Beach Post)

If you’re walking down Clematis Street on Saturday night, and hear a crowd of people enthusiastically turning the downtown waterfront into an impromptu dance floor, don’t be scared. It’s not a flash mob. Or an impromptu re-creation of the prom scene from Footloose.

It’s just a dance party. Ginger’s Dance Party.

And you don’t have to know steps, or buy a ticket, or even have a partner.

"It can be really fun to learn how to dance," says Ginger Gowing, the namesake, dance captain and effervescent cruise director of this monthly event, which for a year now has made the waterfront a much more fun place to be.

On the first Saturday evening of every month, in the space where the West Palm Beach GreenMarket takes place, Gowing oversees the party with husband and dance partner Clint Fowlkes, "or Mr. Ginger," he jokes. You can find them behind the fountain across from Pizza Girls. In ickier weather, the party moves inside the pavilion.

"You can learn how to hustle, West Coast Swing, or cha-cha," says Gowing, 49. "You can dance with another person in the crowd. A stranger you’ve never met before could ask you to dance."

In the year since it’s been livening up the downtown, Ginger’s Dance Party has drawn about 75 people each month, become a staple for some avid dancers, and, for others, something wonderful they stumble upon.

"The nice thing about it is the location," says Dr. Steve Teisch, a veterinarian who met Ginger and Clint at Gold Coast Ballroom, and has been known to travel to the dance party from his house in Hypoluxo by boat. "You can dance outdoors in downtown West Palm Beach on the waterfront. I can’t think of a nicer place to enjoy other people. You can bring your own beverages, get a bite to eat, enjoy the music and good company."

To the city, Ginger’s Dance Party is more than just something on the calendar – it’s a billboard for the possibilities of downtown. And the key, according to DDA interim director Raphael Clemente, "is Ginger. She’s got this electric personality, and she’s such a strong, tireless supporter of the downtown area. You can’t ask for more than that. It’s wonderful to find a stakeholder, who lives here and wants to see things be as great as they can be."

Chase Scott, city spokesman, adds that it’s "one of several (events) that help make West Palm Beach a destination and not simply a place."

Ginger and Clint met dancing at Pompano Beach’s Gold Coast Ballroom, where they have "10-buck group lessons. And when all the practice is done, there’s open dancing," she says. "It’s a great way to meet friends or – hint hint – your new husband."

She wasn’t in search of a beau, just a beat. Ginger ‘s been dancing her whole life, "not in serious competition" but just for fun, she says. Both she and Clint, now 64 and another longtime dancer, "had been divorced for a long time" when they met.

The two moved from Broward County for Clint’s job here as the controller for a privately held commercial property company, and bought a condo in West Palm Beach. (He’s now also the president of the DDA board.) Ginger, a Realtor, says she loves it – "Clint’s so close to his office, he rides his bike to work."

Ginger in the middle of one of her dance parties. (Photo by Joan Goldberg)

Their zeal for downtown living was what planted the seeds of the dance party. The two begin attending events in the area, like a street dance. The couple was photographed for the DDA’s "Get Your Groove Back" campaign and featured in storefronts windows and on the downtown trolley.

That ad led to Ginger’s Dance Party, which Clemente says was initially conceived as "a one-time thing, but it was so cool and got such great support that the city adopted it. It’s kids, and families. It’s older people – probably the most diverse event in terms of attendance outside of Clematis by Night."

All sorts of fun things happen at the dance party. Ginger and Clint even got engaged there. After nine years together, Clint popped the question right at the dance party.

"I was shaking, and everybody was standing in the crowd," she says. "It was amazing."

When not shaking it downtown, the two dancers will go anywhere in the county with good music, including the outdoor plaza at CityPlace, Boynton Beach’s Banana Boat or Two Georges, or The Cottage in Lake Worth.

"Some people have never seen West Coast Swing, and when we get going, it’s like ‘Oh my God, they’re nuts,’" she says.

And they are… for West Palm Beach.

"I live it. I eat it. I play here and dance here," Ginger says.

IF YOU GO

Ginger gets this party started Saturday, from 8-10 p.m., Centennial Square, West Palm Beach. Free.