Athens, WV (WOAY) – A former Mercer County Circuit Judge will serve as grand marshal for a local university’s homecoming parade.
According to a media release from Concord University, retired Ninth Circuit Judge John Frazier ’67 will return to his alma mater to lead the homecoming parade on Thursday October 9, 2025, at 6 p.m.
“We’re proud to honor John as this year’s grand marshal and excited to have him back on campus,” said Blake Farmer, director of alumni and donor relations. “John’s commitment and respect for Concord is unparalleled. We appreciate his long-term support of Concord and the pride he takes in being a Mountain Lion.”
“I felt very privileged to receive that invitation, and I look forward to the parade,” Frazier said. “When I was at Concord, I was in a fraternity, and we participated in the parade a couple of times. It was kind of wild, a bunch of young guys trying to build a float.”
At 80, Judge Frazier says he still has many reasons to hold Concord University in high regards—” the people, the fellow students, the professors, which I think provided me and everybody that was there at that time a great academic education, just the campus, which used to have the name The Campus Beautiful.”
“It was just a wonderful place to be for a young person like me that came from a family that had never had anybody to graduate from college,” Frazier said recently.
Frazier will lead the parade along Vermillion Street, concluding at the Callaghan Stadium parking lot, just ahead of the annual bonfire celebration in The Valley.
“I’m looking forward to coming back,” Frazier said. “It’s very much a privilege to being selected grand marshal.”
