Just after 4 a.m. on Friday, a witness called Fresno Police to report a man trying to carry something away from the fairgrounds.
They arrived to find a fence cut open and a folded up inflatable outside the gate. It's not known if the attempted thief was caught.
Fair security returned the heavy inflatable and waited near the open fence until a repair crew could arrive to fix it.
The Big Fresno Fair opens for its 2019 run on October 3.
Big inflatables nearly stolen at fairgrounds