Local soap opera stars part of unique Halloween event in West Chester

What do a drone, costume contest, local soap opera stars and a West Chester Twp. subdivision all have in common? The prize, the event, the attendees and location for a Halloween event during trick or treating.

Wendy and R.L. McClendon, who live in the Liberty Springs subdivision off Tylersville Road, are hosting a trick or treating scavenger hunt of sorts from 6 to 8 p.m. Monday to celebrate the spooky holiday. They are not revealing their exact address, they think it will be fun for people to search or just stumble upon the location where a costume contest — young and old are all invited — will take place at 6:45 p.m.

The prizes? A drone and a computer tablet.

It's a little bit of promotion for J.L.'s urban soap opera called "Quarter Water Juices," which streams on YouTube. The cast members will be handing out treats and quarter water juice — those little, barrel-shaped, sugary juice drinks many people grew up with — and signing autographs.

“Monday is our secret treat and we’re trying to have people find the cast of ‘Quarter Water Juices’,” Wendy said. “We’ll have a sign that says this is the house, sort of like a scavenger hunt.”

Both McClendons are into blazing trails locally. Wendy started a local television show entitled "Wake up West Chester" and have had guests talk about everything from detecting scams to hoarders. Her program is on hiatus at the moment, but her husband is producing nine episodes of his soap opera this year.

There are nine characters — mainly local models and actors and actresses — and he said it’s kind of like the movie “Six Degrees of Separation.” He just reached 150,000 views on YouTube. It is based on his life, and he said his mom was his inspiration.

“My mother grew up watching soap operas and I had to endure that pain,” he said. “So one day I wanted to make something similar, based on my life but not too much in depth. ‘Quarter Water Juices’ is a reflection of my earlier days … I wanted to make it the symbolism of me … I wanted it to be less corny than soap operas, more reality based. Intelligent, but not too intelligent where is sounds like (the actors) are being stuck up. I wanted it to be a little bit more about life. Because sometimes we don’t tell family what they really need to know.”

McClendon is an audio engineer who owns a production studio — most of the filming for his soap opera is in and around his West Chester Twp. home and Cincinnati, but is also trying to take his show to the next level. He is also studying to be a mechanical engineer at Northern Kentucky University.

About the Author