Here are photos from Kimball Heights, which threw a block party included in Emily Paine Carter’s column, reprinted here:

A recent block party would help certify a South Salem neighborhood as “a little slice of Americana.”

That’s what Monica Goza of Wilmington, N.C., calls a Kimball Heights area, reported resident Marie Mewald.

About forty folks from thirteen families participated in the gathering. In an email Marie credited Dave Franklin and Dan Keely as the main organizers.

Trusty food-and-fun elements had been rounded up, with special attention to entertaining the children: A bountiful potluck dinner, of course (“great…some REALLY good recipes,” Marie vouched). Lots of water balloons for the kids – welcome, playful relief from the heat on this end-of-June evening. A slip-’n’-slide, provided by David Vanderpool. Those huge, bouncy “blow-ups” from Dave’s Moon Walk, arranged by Marie’s husband Ben.

Even a kids’ movie (“Bed-Time Stories”), as the hours stretched from 5 to 10:30 pm.

It was the first such party for the little area, but Marie wrote that neighbors hope it will be held yearly.

Such is the stuff helping to strengthen neighborly ties. Marie wrote that she appreciates living in a place where “we all truly watch out for each others’ children and keep an eye on what is going on in the neighborhood. Ben and I … traveled with his work before he retired, and it is truly the nicest place we have ever lived.”