Staff, visitors reflect on the 5th anniversary of the Corvette Museum sinkhole
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – Today marked the anniversary of an event that Bowling Green residents and car-lovers alike are sure to never forget.
Five years ago, the famous sinkhole opened up at the National Corvette Museum, leading to the damage of the Sky Dome and eight different Corvette models.
February 12, 2014, was just like any other day – until a little after 5:30 a.m., something unexpected happened.
A sinkhole nearly 40 feet wide and roughly 30 feet deep destroyed part of the floor inside the museum’s Sky Dome.
“Everyone in our area and even across the globe were shocked to turn on their TVs or their radios the morning of February 12, 2014, and see that a sinkhole had happened inside a Corvette museum,” said National Corvette Museum Marketing and Communications Manager Katie Ellison, reflecting on the incident.
Half a decade later, the sinkhole and the cars that fell into the pit below have become the main attraction inside the now-renovated Sky Dome.
“The sinkhole has become a big part of not only the museum’s story, but the Corvette history as well,” added Ellison.”
Of the eight cars that fell into the sinkhole, only three of them were fully restored.
The remaining five Corvettes were damaged beyond repair, with the 2001 Mallet Hammer Z06 model sustaining the most destruction. It was also the last car to be found, and removed, from the gaping hole.
“There’s several different aspects to this story and we like to continue telling it and bringing visitors in,” Ellison said.
The museum saw a lot more visitors today than it normally does for this time of year, visitors from across the country, just like Steven Zacharias and Gail Nelson, natives of Dearbone, Michigan.
“We saw the hole five years ago because we saw these cars down in the hole yet when we came,” said Nelson.
The couple’s first visit to the museum was right after the sinkhole incident occurred, but they had no idea that their second visit happened to take place on the 5th anniversary of the event.
“Just happened to be passing through beating the snow up North,” Zacharias said with a smile.
Both Zacharias and Nelson mentioned how much has changed since that first visit five years ago, the couple equally impressed with what the museum has done with the exhibit.
By the next time they visit, though, there’s likely to be even more changes made to the exhibit, and the museum as a whole.
“It would be great to be able to update and refresh that element as well as some other technology pieces of the exhibit,” said Ellison. “Who knows what the future brings?”
Hopefully, that future doesn’t bring with it another sinkhole.
