BILLINGS — Outside of the City Brew on Shiloh Crossing Blvd., a seemingly innocuous rock has become a recurring challenge for drivers, prompting frequent chatter and even a large online following.
The rock, often referred to as the 'City Brew Rock,' sits at the entrance of the parking lot before entering the parking lot of the popular coffee spot.
“They drive up the driveway, but they take the turn too sharp, and then they just hop right on top of the rock," said Jared Lima, creator of the 'City Brew Rock Club' Facebook group. “It's so funny to see what people can do."
Lima said he sees posts at least once a month about a driver getting stuck on the rock, with the latest incident happening on Wednesday morning. He was so amazed by just how many posts he would see on the Billings Reckless Drivers Facebook page about the rock, he was compelled to create his own Facebook group dedicated to it several years ago.
“Where some of the entertainment comes from is you're trying to figure out how are people driving up on this rock. It's not that big and it's within a curved section. How are you doing it? Maybe they're just not paying attention," said Lima.
Within hours of making the page, the group had over 700 members and now sits at nearly 3,000.
"I didn't expect the group to get as popular as it did like that. I think within the first couple days, they went over a thousand," said Lima. “People are very excited now to see anybody drive up on this rock."
Members of the group will post photos when they see someone get stuck on it or even in similar situations where other rocks are trapping drivers across the country. Lima said that posters usually see the fun of the page.
“I think there was only one instance where I saw someone say, 'Hey, that was me that drove off on it,' and they're all in good spirits and having a good time with it,” said Lima.
The pictures people will share of the rock always bring a lot of comments, with some wondering if a change to the rock itself needs to be made. However, others are just on the page for a good laugh.
“I think people within the comments of these posts are just trying to start controversy saying that we should move the rock or we should paint it a certain color and make it more visible. Like, yeah, that could be good for some people, but then what's the point of having it?” said Lima.
For Lima and others on the page, the rock serves as a bit of fun entertainment. For now, the rock remains, and maybe this article can serve as a reminder for people to take their turns just a little wider.
