Many May Moons,

Top of Mind

May Already Gave Us One Full Moon. Now It’s Coming Back for Attention.

May is not done showing off.

Earlier this month, we got the Flower Moon, the first full moon of May. It peaked on May 1, but looked full across the first weekend of the month, rising low in the east, climbing high around midnight, and giving Ohio one of those rare sky moments that did not involve storm warnings, pollen counts, or someone asking if it was “supposed to be this windy.”

Now, May is lining up round two.

On May 31, we get a second full moon. That makes it a blue moon, not because it will actually turn blue, but because it is the second full moon in the same calendar month. The phrase “once in a blue moon” exists for a reason, and that reason is mostly calendar math pretending to be magic.

Most months only get one full moon because the lunar cycle takes about 29.5 days. But when a full moon lands right at the beginning of a 31-day month, the calendar has just enough room to sneak in another one before the month clocks out. May 2026 happens to be one of those months, which feels dramatic, unnecessary, and very on brand for spring in Ohio.

This second full moon is also a micromoon, which sounds like something NASA would announce right before cutting to a budget hearing, but it simply means the full moon happens near apogee, the point when the moon is farthest from Earth. The moon’s average distance is about 238,855 miles, but during a micromoon, it is farther away than usual, making it appear slightly smaller and dimmer than a typical full moon.

Will you notice the difference with your own eyes? Probably not.

Unless you are an astronomer, a telescope person, or the kind of guy who says “actually” before every sentence, the May 31 moon will mostly just look like a full moon. Which is fine. The moon does not need to be bigger to be impressive. It is already a giant glowing rock controlling the tides while the rest of us struggle to control our inbox.

The first full moon of the month, the Flower Moon, gets its name from the seasonal bloom of wildflowers across much of North America. Different Indigenous tribes have used different names for May’s full moon, including Strawberry Moon, Mulberry Moon, and Moon Before Pregnancy, depending on region, harvest cycles, and cultural tradition. Which remains a much richer naming system than our current approach of calling every apartment building “The Meridian” and hoping nobody asks follow-up questions.

The May 31 blue moon will peak early in the morning, around 4:45 a.m. Eastern, but like most full moons, it will appear full the night before and the night of. The best viewing plan is simple: get away from bright streetlights, avoid tall buildings and trees, and look toward the eastern horizon around sunset.

In Columbus, that means your best view probably will not be from a Short North patio wedged between string lights, traffic, and someone loudly explaining natural wine.

Try a park, an open field, a quiet neighborhood street, or anywhere with a clear view of the horizon. You do not need a telescope. You do not need special glasses. You do not need to understand orbital mechanics, though someone nearby will absolutely try to explain them anyway.

So as May winds down, take the win. Go outside. Look up. And Enjoy!

Scarlet Letter Trivia

Question: What is the most money that has ever been raised by a Columbus mayoral candidate?
A. 1.2 million
B. 3 million
C. 4.6 million
D. 2 million

The Murph Is Coming to Ohio State

On May 22, Buckeye Nation is invited to Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium for one of the most meaningful and punishing workouts in the country: The Murph.

It is free to participate. You get an official 2026 Murph T-shirt. There will be complimentary food and beverages while supplies last. Special Ohio State guests include Tom Ryan, head wrestling coach, and James Laurinaitis, linebackers coach.

So yes, you can technically say you went to Ohio State to run, do pull-ups, push-ups, squats, honor a Navy SEAL, and maybe get lightly humbled before most people have finished their coffee.

The workout starts at 9 a.m., with arrival at 8 a.m.

The Murph is simple in the same way climbing a mountain is simple:

1-mile run
100 pull-ups
200 push-ups
300 air squats
1-mile run

That’s it. Just a short little fitness errand from hell.

The workout is named for Navy SEAL Lieutenant Michael P. Murphy, who was killed in Afghanistan on June 28, 2005, during Operation Red Wings. Murphy left cover during a firefight to find a signal and call for help for his team, knowing the danger it put him in. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.

Before it became a Memorial Day tradition, Murphy called the workout “Body Armor.” Today, thousands of people complete The Murph each year to honor his sacrifice and remember service members who never came home.

And here’s the important part: you do not have to be the fittest person in the stadium to show up.

You can do it solo. You can do it with friends. You can scale it. Break up the reps. Take your time. Do the version your body is capable of doing.

Because The Murph is not really about being the fastest or strongest. It is about showing up, doing something hard on purpose, and remembering why it matters.

May 22. Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium. Arrival at 8 a.m. Workout at 9 a.m.

No entry fee. No easy reps. Just show up and give what you can.

Columbus’ 2027 Mayor’s Race Has Already Started. Voters Just Haven’t Been Invited Yet.

The 2027 Columbus mayor’s race is still more than a year away, but City Hall has apparently decided that is close enough to start acting weird.

Mayor Andrew Ginther is building a major financial head start ahead of a possible fourth-term campaign. According to campaign finance reports, Ginther has raised about $368,000 so far in 2026 and has more than $1.3 million on hand.

That is not just a campaign fund. That is a warning sign with direct deposit.

In politics, money does not just buy ads. It buys gravity. It tells donors where the power is, tells challengers how steep the climb will be, and tells everyone else in City Hall who is still holding the biggest stick.

Right now, that person is Ginther.

His most likely challenger, Columbus City Council President Shannon Hardin, has not officially announced a run, but he has been widely viewed as a potential candidate. So far this year, Hardin has raised about $51,000 and has around $300,000 on hand. If this becomes a race, Ginther is currently outraising him about seven to one and sitting on roughly a $1 million advantage.

That is less of a gap and more of a canyon with yard signs.

City Attorney Zach Klein is also hovering around the conversation, despite saying he would support Ginther after the mayor announced he would seek another term. Klein raised about $87,000 so far in 2026 and has roughly $1.1 million on hand.

Klein may not be running, but $1.1 million is not exactly “I’m just here to help” money.

The money matters because this is not just some far-off hypothetical election. The tension is already showing up in how City Hall operates. Ginther and Hardin have been increasingly at odds, most recently over the public funding deal tied to Columbus’ future professional women’s soccer team and the use of McCoy Park for the team’s training facility.

Hardin criticized the mayor’s handling of the deal and said the community was not properly consulted. Ginther accused Hardin of putting political ambition ahead of the community and argued that council revisions made the deal worse.

So, you know, very normal coworker vibes.

But underneath the political drama is a much bigger question: who gets to define the next version of Columbus?

A fourth term would give Ginther more than a decade in the mayor’s office. That means 2027 would not just be another reelection campaign. It would be a referendum on the Columbus he has helped shape: a bigger, faster-growing city with major development deals, rising housing pressure, public safety challenges, transit debates, downtown investments, and neighborhoods that are still trying to figure out whether all this growth is actually for them.

For voters, that is the part that matters.

The next mayor will help decide how Columbus handles housing, policing, public transit, sports facilities, parks, development incentives, homelessness, and whether longtime residents feel like they are part of the city’s future or just watching it get built around them.

Columbus city elections are technically nonpartisan, but Democrats currently hold every elected office at City Hall. So if a real mayoral fight happens, it likely will not be about party labels. It will be about power, growth, trust, and who voters believe should control the next chapter.

For now, Ginther has the money advantage. Hardin has the speculation. Klein has the cash pile. And Columbus has more than a year to pretend it is not already being dragged into another election cycle.

The race is not official yet.

But the money is moving, the alliances are forming, and the public disagreements are getting louder.

Which means Columbus’ 2027 mayor’s race has already started.

Voters just have not been formally invited yet.

ProMusica Ends Its Season by Getting Classical Music Slightly Undressed…

ProMusica Chamber Orchestra is closing its 47th season this May at the Southern Theatre with two programs that sound fancy, dramatic, and, in one case, a little scandalous if you do not read past the title.

First up is NAKED CLASSICS: Appalachian Spring on May 15 at 7:30 p.m., hosted by Paul Rissmann. Before anyone gets too excited, no, this is not that kind of naked. This is classical music stripped down intellectually, not legally. Rissmann breaks apart Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring with images, sound bites, musician interviews, and storytelling before ProMusica performs the full work.

Basically, it is the director’s commentary before the movie, except with fewer explosions and more violins.

The next two nights, May 16 and 17, Music Director David Danzmayr leads Copland & Shostakovich, a season finale built around two very different 20th-century moods: American optimism and Soviet emotional devastation. Light stuff.

The program features Creative Partner and violinist Vadim Gluzman performing Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto No. 1, a dark, powerful piece not often performed by chamber orchestras. To balance that out, the orchestra will perform Copland’s Appalachian Spring, which brings enough wide-open American feeling to make you briefly forget about rent, inboxes, and the construction cone that now legally owns your street.

The evening opens with Shostakovich’s Waltz II and closes with Strauss’ Blue Danube Waltz, giving Danzmayr, who is Austrian, the chance to waltz the season home properly.

So whether you are a classical music regular, someone who only recognizes Appalachian Spring from PBS, or just a person who enjoys sitting in a beautiful old theater while talented people do impossible things with string instruments, this is a strong way to spend a May night in Columbus.

ProMusica closes the season May 15 through 17 at the Southern Theatre. More information is available at promusicacolumbus.org.

B) 3 Million dollars were raised by Mayor Ginther for his 2015 campaign.