Workers move cars to safety after a sinkhole opened up in the dome showroom, Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2014, at the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Ky.(Miranda Pederson/Daily News)

It just might have taken a sinkhole swallowing eight Corvettes for many in southcentral Kentucky to recognize what they had in their own backyard: a national treasure.

One only had to watch Twitter, national television and Internet news on Wednesday following the sinkhole debacle in the National Corvette Museum’s Skydome to learn that the Corvette was known and talked about across the globe. Outlets in Mexico, Japan, Britain and elsewhere carried news of the sinkhole, which in these parts isn’t all that uncommon.

Perhaps not so common is that the sinkhole took out eight cars believed to be valued all together at $1 million.

The unfortunate calamity for the museum may turn out to be a positive in that residents might begin to see the value in the place that draws more than 145,000 visitors each year, most of them tourists from other parts of the state or country.

The Kentucky Department of Travel and Tourism already recognized the museum’s value when in 2012 it put the museum in its There’s Only One Kentucky campaign.

Vicki Fitch, executive director of the Bowling Green Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, said her office has promoted staycations to local residents for the past few years during the economic downturn.

“And it’s true that this may draw some local people who have never been to the museum before or who haven’t been there in a long time,” Fitch said. “As tough or as heartbreaking as this is … it might bring more awareness to our (residents) and our visitors.”

Fitch expects there might be curiosity seekers who want to visit the museum.

We say bring them on, and while here, visit other places in Bowling Green. It has many other tourist spots, including Lost River Cave and the Bowling Green General Motors Assembly Plant that are on There’s Only One Kentucky’s list.

Fitch is happy that the museum will be open today.

“It’s reassuring that they have everything under control and are ready to move forward,” she said.

The CVB has placed faith in the museum and its ability to bring tourists to Bowling Green. It awarded the museum special tourism projects funding of $400,000 to help build its $20 million Motorsports Park across Interstate 65. You can see the museum from the park area.

The park is expected to be finished in time for the museum’s 20th anniversary this fall. Museum officials also hope to have the sinkhole damage repaired by then as well. We wish them well.