Southborough, MA Public Conduct: Public Alcohol Use (2026)

Southborough regulates public drinking through four short sections of Chapter 50, adopted by Town Meeting as Art. X, §§ 8 through 11, of the 1983 Code. Each prohibition defines alcoholic beverage by pointing to Chapter 138 of the General Laws, so the state licensing statute supplies the definition and the Town supplies the rule.

Section 50-1 is the street rule: no person can consume an alcoholic beverage while in or upon any public way in the Town of Southborough. Section 50-2 reaches past the street to any way or place in the Town to which the public have access as invitees or licensees. Consumption there is allowed in two situations only: the owner or person in control of the premises has given permission, or the sale or distribution of the beverages has been authorized by a license from the Select Board under Chapter 138.

Section 50-3 is the strictest provision because it covers more than drinking. In any park, playground or public school premises in Southborough, no person can keep, use, consume or have in his or her possession any alcoholic beverage. The only carve-out is for alcohol sold and distributed in connection with a license issued by the Select Board under Chapter 138. Possession alone, without any drinking, is enough to violate § 50-3, while §§ 50-1 and 50-2 are written around consumption.

Sections 50-2 and 50-3 each carry the printed history note [Amended 11-1-2021 STM by Art. 2]. Section 50-4 sets the penalty for the whole chapter. The Select Board appears in Chapter 50 as the licensing body, and the chapter does not designate a separate enforcement officer: the penalty clause simply applies to whoever violates any provision of the chapter.