What is it like to live in Middleborough?

The woodlands in town capture interest, but the sea of red this time of year at Ocean Spray Cranberries is hard to miss.

The view of Center Street in downtown. Debee Tlumacki for the Boston Globe

February 14, 2017

2 minutes to read

When the town of Middleborough briefly made public profanity a civil offense in 2012, Allin Frawley got an earful.

And the language was, um, colorful.

“I’ve never been sworn at so much in my life, from people all over the world,’’ said Frawley, chairman of the Board of Selectmen. “I work in construction and lived in New York City, but some of the things being said made me blush.’’

Frawley and his then-fiancée, Lorraine, a “townie,’’ moved from Taunton to Middleborough in 2007. Frawley had grown up in neighboring Lakeville, and after his New York City experience, he “was very ready to embrace small-town Americana again,’’ he said.

At the time, Middleborough officials were assessing a casino deal with the Mashpee Wampanoag. It was a proposal Frawley did not support. “We lived close enough to downtown that I began to attend meetings. I wanted more of a voice in what was happening in the town,’’ he said. The tribe pulled out of the deal, and Frawley ran for selectman, winning a seat in 2010.

When he’s not wrapped up in town business, Frawley heads outdoors. “I go hunting and fishing and walking in the woods as much as possible,’’ he said. It’s a passion he shares with his wife, their 5-year-old daughter, Kennedy, and 3-year-old son, Sullivan. “Every single weekend we’re walking in the woods and canoeing until the river freezes,’’ he said. And then, when winter hits, there’s snowshoeing: He plops the kids in sleds and pulls them along.

The woodlands in town capture his interest, but the sea of red this time of year is hard to miss. Among the town’s claims to fame is Ocean Spray Cranberries, which runs part of its operation here. “You can’t escape the cranberry bogs; they’re all around you,’’ Frawley said.

The annual Herring Run Festival at Oliver Mill Park is a big draw, but it’s that small-town Americana that still has a hold on Frawley.

“Fourth of July in Middleborough is like living in a Norman Rockwell painting. There’s a parade, fireworks, and everyone walking around wearing red, white, and blue. It’s Americana at its best,’’ he said.

Allin Frawley, son Sullivan, wife Lorraine and daughter Kennedy during a family cookout. – Handout

BY THE NUMBERS

72.3

The town’s square mileage, making it the second-largest municipality in the Commonwealth (only Plymouth is bigger)

65 million +

Pounds of dried cranberries produced annually at Ocean Spray Cranberries’ Bridge Street plant

6,000+

Herring per hour that can stream by at Oliver Mill Park on their way up the Nemasket River to spawn during the run’s springtime peak

$20

Fine for cursing in public set by the town in 2012, until the state attorney general’s office determined that it appeared to violate the First Amendment

PROS & CONS

Pro

Housing costs

At the end of September, the average listing price for homes for sale here was $336,460 (Trulia.com). The tax bill for a property assessed at that price would be about $5,300.

CON

Lots of area to tend

Given Middleborough’s size, tax dollars must stretch farther to provide for road maintenance, infrastructure, etc.