National Corvette Museum executive director Wendell Strode stands near a damaged 2001 Corvette in Bowling Green, Ky. The museum is showing eight Corvettes that fell into a sinkhole that opened up inside the museum in February.BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – For years, just enough hardcore classic car lovers and curious travelers wandered through the National Corvette Museum in Kentucky to keep the doors open. Now, after a massive sinkhole swallowed eight pristine models of vintage muscle, attendance has skyrocketed.
And visitors are as eager to peer into the chasm as they are to see the ‘Vettes, if not more so.
“The response to this has been bigger than anyone could have ever imagined,” said Katie Frassinelli, a spokeswoman for the museum that sits just off Interstate 65 in Bowling Green. “On the one hand, we don’t want to be known as the sinkhole museum. But on the other hand, it’s bringing a lot of people that may not have otherwise come.”
When the earth opened up in February, stunned museum officials first saw it as a devastating setback as they assessed the wreckage to the cars and building. The eight damaged cars — carrying a total value believed to exceed $1 million — toppled like toys amid rocks, concrete and dirt.
But in the months since, business has shifted into over-drive, a welcome development for an attraction that struggled years ago to stay afloat. Since reopening after a one-day closure, attendance is up nearly 50 percent from the same period a year ago; previously, the museum averaged about 150,000 visitors a year. Sign-ups for museum memberships also are rising fast. The merchandising has started, with sinkhole-related shirts, post cards and prints sold at the gift shop.