In a shopping center off FM 51 in Decatur, people are packing the parking lot to see a pothole.
"I never expected it to do this. It's hilarious," said Ashley Wiley.
It's still hard for Wiley to believe. "How crazy is that," she laughed.
Wiley said the Texas-sized pothole has been terrorizing tires and bumped for what seems like forever. On Wednesday, she took matters into her own hands.
"OK my people, there’s this gigantic pothole that nobody will fix," you can hear her say on a video she posted to Facebook. "I am going to go fix it."
She went and bought a plant and potting soil and recorded herself planting it in the pothole.
"The reason I did it is for someone to get out here and fill it, ya know?" Wiley said.
To Wiley's surprise, she said within about an hour of putting this plant in the pot hole, decorations of all kinds started to pop up. "Oh there’s tinsel, there’s a stocking, presents," she said. There were also solar-powered Christmas lights, toys and even a Domino's Pizza box, in hopes Domino's would come fill the pothole as part of their pothole promotion.
Her video had been viewed 65,000 times as of Thursday afternoon. She even made a Facebook page for the so-called "Decatur Crater." People stopped by all day to see it for themselves. Shasta Tomm came by to take a holiday picture with her daughters. "Hey, more power to her because I was sick of getting my tires ruined," she said of Wiley's efforts.
WFAA did reach the property's owner, who said he appreciates Wiley's sense of humor, but said he put in a work order a couple of weeks ago to have it patched. Weather, he said, has slowed things down. He added that the number of trucks and traffic that go through that area makes that a problem area.
As for Wiley, she is soaking in the pothole popularity. "Only in Wise County," she said, laughing. She's happy she could plant some positivity where it was needed. "Oh I love it. It's brought our whole community laughter," she said. "Lots of laughter."