COEUR d’ALENE — When Jeremiah Brunelle suggested a “Feel the Bern” hike around Tubbs Hill to gain attention for presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, he expected 10 to 15 attendees.

Instead, more than 100 people visited for a full-on Bernie Sanders political rally at McEuen Park on Wednesday.

“I just wanted to walk around Tubbs with 10 to 15 people, and then everyone started coming up with 'let’s do a chili and salsa contest,'” Brunelle said. “Never did I imagine this many people would show up. And never did I imagine I would be talking with the media about it.”

People from all generations turned out for the event, listening to Sanders’ campaign songs and speech excerpts while eating salsa and chili.

Kristy Johnson, with the Kootenai County Democrats, said the Facebook event had 154 people RSVP to attend the event.

“But I think we got a lot more people than that,” she said. “Some of the people here didn’t see it on Facebook, but they read about it in the paper and decided to come.”

Johnson said some attendees just saw the gathering in the Avista Pavilion at McEuen and decided to join the group.

Attendees were asked to join the campaign’s email list and invited to judge the salsa and chili entries. Johnson said the North Idaho College Young Democrats also came to support the event, and a voter registration booth was on hand to register new voters.

“We will probably run out of food, but we’ll keep going until we run out,” Johnson said.

The event even drew interest from Sanders supporters who live in Spokane.

David Green, Democratic Party chairman for Spokane’s third district, called Brunelle when he heard about the event and asked if he could attend and sell Bernie Sanders campaign buttons. He said the proceeds will go to help support the Democratic candidates for the Spokane City Council.

He said the buttons were moving pretty well at $3 each, or four for $10.

“I can tell you so far the Bernie buttons are outselling Hillary buttons 10 to 1 overall this year,” he said, speculating that Hillary supporters must still be using her old campaign swag.