🌸 Ohio Wildflower Guide: What’s Blooming and Where

Plus: 🍻 The Historic Columbus Bars Worth Time-Traveling For

Author

Chelsea Wiley
February 26, 2026

Sponsored by North Market 🍴
North Market is calling your name! Whether you're exploring the original downtown location for its classic market charm or the Bridge Park spot in Dublin for a modern twist, there's no better place to eat, shop, and discover the best of Columbus. For more info, head over to northmarket.org.

Hello, Thursday! Chelsea, here.

This winter has felt especially long. Between the snow, the cold, and the seemingly endless gray skies, spring couldn’t come soon enough. But one of the best times of the year is right around the corner. The forests are about to wake up here in Ohio, and the wildflowers will start putting on quite the show, you just have to get out there to see it. These tiny, colorful flowers are reminders that warmer days are ahead and there’s so much beauty waiting to be discovered. If you’re ready to trade snow boots for hiking shoes, here’s where to go see spring come back to life.

🍻 The Historic Columbus Bars Worth Time-Traveling For
Before rooftop patios and craft cocktails, Columbus had dimly lit saloons, basement beer halls, and neighborhood bars packed with personality. Take a look inside the watering holes that shaped the city’s nightlife a century ago.

Headlines 📰 

🚔 A Columbus mom says two ICE agents pepper-sprayed into her moving car near Easton, hitting her and her three daughters after they warned others about ICE activity. ICE says agents were clearing a path from a separate incident, but the family is calling for an investigation, saying the spray was unprovoked. (NBC4)

🏘️ The last two standing buildings of Poindexter Village are on track to become Columbus’ new Black history museum, with a groundbreaking set for May and an opening planned for 2028. The $25.9 million project will honor one of the nation’s first public housing communities and the generations of Near East Side residents who called it home. (Axios Columbus)

🎸 Austin’s once-beloved Rainey Street went from bungalow bars and live music to high-rise towers and sky-high rents, pushing out many of the small venues that built it. Now, city leaders and business owners here in Columbus are looking at it as a warning of what happens when growth outpaces protection for local culture. (Columbus Monthly)

🌥️ Weather: 45 and mostly cloudy, with skies gradually clearing

Sponsored by the Greater Columbus Arts Council 🖼️
Explore Columbus through a new lens by checking out the arts-focused event calendar from Art Makes Columbus. Discover the events that bring our community together and experience art made authentically. For more info, head over to columbusmakesart.com.

Coming Up This Week 📆

Coming Up This Month 📆

🏒 The Best Things To Do This February In Columbus
Columbus is buzzing this February. Whether you’re into live music, sports, theater, winter hikes, or family-friendly fun, the city has plenty of ways to get out and make the most of the month.

Today's Photo 🤳

Instagram Post

🌳 Ohio’s swamps get a really bad rep, but they are such incredible ecosystems. These quiet, waterlogged forests filter pollution, soak up floodwater, and create rich habitat for everything from migrating birds to unique salamanders.

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- Chelsea