School isn’t out yet, and the season doesn’t officially change until June 21, but for many Hoosiers, Memorial Day is the official kickoff for summer.

That means cooling off at city pools and visiting state parks. Thousands in northeast Indiana will make at least one TinCaps game at Parkview Field. With gas prices easing but budgets still tight, countless Hoosiers will take to the road for low-cost day trips.

Many Americans say they want government to do less. They are tired of big government, taxes and spending.

Fewer, though, say which government programs they want to do without.

Like it or not, if you venture away from your own yard and neighborhood this summer, you’ll be enjoying something that the government has subsidized, built, managed or spearheaded. On this page are a few examples.

STATE PARKS

Indiana government runs the state parks, but users pay most of the operating expenses. That’s one reason the cost of admission for a car full of Hoosiers has risen from $2 in 1994 to $5 this year. Adjusted just for inflation, that $2 fee 17 years ago would be $3.04 today.

The idea of having users pay for Indiana state parks goes back to their founding in 1916, the state’s centennial. German native Richard Lieber, who came to the U.S. to be a reporter, urged the governor to start a system of state parks as a 100th birthday to Hoosiers and led a committee that helped fulfill the goal.

He strived to gain park land as gifts to the state rather than buy it, and it was Lieber who believed users should pay to use the parks so they would value them more. Lieber, known as the father of Indiana’s state parks, came up with the idea of building inns to increase revenue.

This year, Indiana’s state parks and reservoirs have a budget of $33.5 million, of which $23.9 million comes from user fees.

THE BALLGAME

The naysayers were out in full force when former Mayor Graham Richard proposed and launched Harrison Square, the downtown development anchored by Parkview Field. The baseball stadium cost about $30 million, with the TinCaps coming up with $5 million and the rest coming from the city.

Yes, taxes built the stadium. But no one’s taxes went up because of it – and today, even some of the staunch critics of the baseball stadium plan say it’s a great place.

No, tax dollars are not subsidizing the cost of your ticket or hot dog or any of the other food (which is surprisingly varied and good for a baseball park). But there would be no Parkview Field if it weren’t for farsighted city officials.

THE POOL

For the majority of local residents who don’t have a lake cottage or backyard pool, city pools are great places to beat the heat. For some teens, working as a lifeguard is a first taste of employment. The city’s three pools – at McMillen, Memorial and Northside parks – are gathering spots as well as centers for recreation, exercise and cooling off.

The fourth city pool, Swinney, will remain closed, a victim of budget cuts.

The open pools will cost about $350,000 to operate this year, with taxpayers footing about $217,000. Pool users pay the remainder, more than a third of the cost.

Government’s role in building and running pools was spotlighted in New Haven, where the Jury Park pool’s life- span had ended. The pool has been closed for two years but will reopen this summer. In an example of democracy in action, elected representatives decided original plans to replace the pool were too expensive, but then scaled-back plans survived a dueling petition drive. The majority of signers believed the pool is a worthy government function.

DRIVING

With all the talk of private roads, nearly every street, road, highway or interstate you take this summer was built and is still maintained by the government.

Though built and long operated by the state, the Indiana Toll Road is a lone exception, maintained by a private company.

In a deal arranged by – yes, the government – the Toll Road lease brought the state $3.8 billion, and Indiana Department of Transportation officials use a big cut of those proceeds to help pay for other projects. One is the widening of a 2.88-mile section of Lima Road/Indiana 3 at a cost of $23.6 million – plus innumerable driver headaches.

It’s hard to avoid using the road if you travel to Kendallville – where you might visit Bixler Lake, owned and operated by the Kendallville Parks and Recreation Department.

The road project is expected to be done by October.