A neighbor alerted Joey Pierce to a growing hole in his front yard.

Pierce, in turn, alerted Plum Borough officials. The ground was sinking, which created a huge crater because of a problem with a storm drain.

Workers came to his yard and surrounded the hole with bright orange fencing. And that is how an idea for a unique holiday decoration was born.

The hole made Pierce think of the Port Authority of Allegheny County bus that fell into a sinkhole in downtown Pittsburgh two years ago.

That image was an inspiration for a holiday ornament and a miniature likeness at this year’s Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens’ “Garden Railroad: Bridges and Tunnels” exhibit

“The borough is going to fix the hole. So I thought until they do, I would have some fun with it,” said Pierce, 28, of his house on Holiday Park Drive. “It’s Christmastime and the sinkhole bus is a Pittsburgh thing.”

So he painted an 8 feet wide, 5 feet high piece of wood blue and wrote the bus number 6015. It’s the same as the bus that fell in the sinkhole. He calls his the “HP Flyer” for Holiday Park Drive.

Pierce decorated it with holiday lights. It’s been up a week.

He said people have been driving by taking photos of and with the decoration. There is a spotlight on it at night.

The hole is at least 16 feet deep, he said.

“Some people ask me why there is a bus display in my front yard,” he said. “I show them the big hole in my yard and then remind them of the sinkhole bus and then they remember.”

The hole continues to grow. The borough has had to widen the original fencing.

“I am not mad about it,” Pierce said. “I know they will fix it. They are short-staffed like everyone else these days.”

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