The Lone Star Flight Museum plans to thank the Galveston community for its support Saturday as it prepares to close its doors in advance of moving to a new facility at Ellington Airport.

The farewell event will take place at the museum, 2002 Terminal Drive in Galveston from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., when the hangar doors close. It will include a customer appreciation lunch from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and free flight giveaways.

The museum will reopen on Sept. 2 at a new $38 million, 130,000-square-foot aviation history and STEM museum at Ellington Airport.

"We opened in Galveston on November 3, 1990 and have enjoyed being part of the community and working with so many wonderful people on the island over the years," Larry Gregory, president and chief operating officer of the museum, wrote on the museum's website. "Galveston is truly a unique place that offers visitors a wide variety of things to do."

He recalled that Hurricane Ike in 2008 caused severe damage, but the community response was "awesome."

Gregory added that it was a difficult decision to relocate to Ellington Field, but that it was made "to protect our historic aircraft collection."

"To take advantage of this monumental task, museum leadership set a course to broaden the reach of the museum by focusing on STEM education programming to serve more young people," he added.

Information: www.lonestarflight.org/