Kentuckian who travels state to showcase rural towns for Facebook page to speak at symposium

Cory Ramsey

The film "Cars" had a serious rural resonance because it focused on a small town that relied on highway traffic for survival but had been dying a slow death since the advent of high-speed interstates that allowed travelers to bypass quaint little towns. In the end the town realizes a revitalization that draws visitors from near and far. In reality, many small towns are not experiencing the same revitalization as the fictional town of Radiator Springs. But one Kentucky man has been trying to change that in his home state and will connect the dots between the fictional world of "Cars" to the real world of rural America during the Southeast Tourism Society Spring Symposium, which will be held from March 23-26 in Lexington, Ky.

After being laid-off from his job in 2009, Cory Ramsey has been traveling the rural roads of Kentucky snapping photographs of small towns and posting them to his Facebook page Map Dot, Kentucky. The page, which has more than 5,000 likes, tries to get people involved in sharing their stories about the interesting places off the beaten paths in Kentucky. Ramsey will further his cause during a speech at the symposium at 9 a.m. Tuesday, March 25 focusing on rural/small communities and surrounding destinations around an anchor destination. Ramsey wrote on Facebook that his speech "will consist of illustrations from the movie "Cars" and the comparison between a Big Dot and a Little Dot. Thus, towns as Hickman and Jordan and Cayce and Four Points will have a voice on the national stage for a brief moment with Radiator Springs, Arizona." (Read more)