The Karen Read case has cast Canton as one long, bleary bar crawl. But is it?

Boston Globe

19-05-2025

But is the perception of Canton as a party town warranted? And fair or not, what happens when a town gets a global rep?
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We'll get to the statistics in a moment. The drunken-driving arrest numbers. The liquor license count. The alcohol-induced ER visits.
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The numbers for the town as a whole tell one story: namely, that Vegas doesn't have anything to worry about.
But the vibes being broadcast around the world from the Dedham courthouse tell another.
Here's
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And here's a tweet from a self-described homemaker from Washington, D.C., two weeks ago: 'I tried earnestly to care about the Karen Read trial but instead of forming a concrete opinion on anyone's guilt or innocence all I've concluded is Canton Massachusetts is full of pathetic alcoholics far too old to be carrying on as they were.'
Canton is getting a global reputation for being a party town. But is that really fair?
Barry Chin/Globe Staff
Read has been charged with backing her Lexus SUV into her boyfriend, Boston police Officer John O'Keefe, and leaving him for dead in January 2022. Her lawyers allege she's been framed, and are working hard to throw suspicion on others — including
McCabe and Higgins haven't been charged and they are not on trial. At least not technically. And neither is Canton itself — but it sure feels like it.
I figured that if anyone is well-positioned to pick up on the town's image, it's the real estate agents — the canaries in the coal mine.
I thought viral sordidness would be stigmatizing. The flip side of the story is in suburban Chicago, where the childhood home of Pope Leo XIV attracted so much interest that the seller changed strategies and decided to
But maybe it's like they say. All press is good. Larry Lawfer, a Milton-based agent, says calls about Canton have increased tenfold.
It's become the first town many prospective buyers who are moving here from out of state ask about, he said. 'Before, it didn't have a profile,' he said. 'Now, it's got a profile.'
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Outside C.F. McCarthy's at 614 Washington St. in Canton.
Barry Chin/Globe Staff
But wait. Isn't that the potential problem? The
profile
? Apparently not. Once people check out the town, he said, they are 'delighted' with it. 'It's affordable and nice, and not everyone is [allegedly] killing their boyfriends.'
How is Canton
not
party central? Let us count the ways:
Operating Under the Influence:
In 2022 – when the events of the trial took place – police in Massachusetts issued 68 citations to Canton residents for drunken driving offenses, according to state Registry of Motor Vehicles data. The citations represent less than 1 percent of all drunken driving offenses issued by police statewide that year.
Liquor licenses
: Two town bars — the Waterfall Bar & Grille and C.F. McCarthy's — have figured so prominently in the night that O'Keefe's family has filed a wrongful death suit against them (and also Read).
One real estate agent says calls about Canton have gone up tenfold.
Barry Chin/Globe Staff
Canton doesn't have an unusually high number of establishments that serve or sell alcohol. According to data from the Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission, in early May, the town had 45 active liquor licenses — about 0.36 percent of all licenses in the state. Its population, 24,370 (based on the 2020 Census), makes up roughly 0.35 percent of the state's total.
Alcohol-related ER visits
: In 2024, there were 172 alcohol-related emergency room visits among Canton residents, according to the Massachusetts Bureau of Substance Addiction Services Dashboard.
On a recent afternoon, downtown Canton appeared to be the picture of small-town charm.
Barry Chin/Globe Staff
That puts it below average for the state. The rate of alcohol-related ER visits for Canton residents in 2024 was 728.2 per 100,000 residents, compared with a rate of 918.1
for Norfolk County and 1,272.8
for the state as a whole.
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From July 2023 to June 2024, there were 158 alcohol-related emergency room visits, according to the
Perhaps the best source about the town's essence would be the town itself, but alas, the trial has everyone so terrorized that even the 'no comments' are off the record. If you can even get one of those.
No one from the Select Board returned a call seeking comment. And to walk around town and ask a local about Karen Read is to stroll through Southie during Whitey's heyday and casually inquire about what kind of guy he is.
On a recent afternoon, downtown Canton appeared to be the picture of small-town charm. Warbling vireos sang
The threat is invisible — unless you make the mistake of mentioning it. Asked if Canton deserved the party reputation that
the Karen Read trial had bestowed, a woman at a local pizza shop turned stony.
'We don't talk about it,' she said.
Laura Crimaldi of the Globe staff contributed to this report.
Beth Teitell can be reached at