MLD, our last house 20 years ago was in a neighborhood on the edge of town like you describe. On halloween, there would be cars and minivans parked with crews of kids and parents walking the streets. Early in the night, it would be somewhat organized with the parents saying "just get one piece", but towards the end it would have descended into a disorganized chaos with random kids grabbing handfulls of whatever reject candy you had left in the bowl.
Free, before my parents began having such bad health concerns, they lived in a nice neighborhood that had a big block party on Christmas Eve similar to what you describe. They would have a local group performing, someone doing homemade train rides behind a UTV, and other cool stuff. The last year they lived in that house, we were all there on Christmas Eve and of course I got terribly drunk. I'm sure there was plenty of slurring and wavering on my part.
Bimini, you must be related to Jane Goodall. Interacting with animals like that is very cool. I think that individual animals have a distinct personality just like humans. Perhaps some gorillas are more prone to holding grudges while yours are less so? It would be an interesting NATGEO study.