PEORIA, Ill. — The Peoria County Farm Bureau’s (PCFB) 15th annual Farmer’s Share of the Food Dollar Breakfast set a new attendance record March 14, with 1,709 consumers forking over 85 cents each for a heaping plate of two sausage patties, two pancakes, eggs, milk and orange juice.

But it was the young politician helping to serve the throng of diners who wound up being the most talked-about part of the breakfast at Exposition Gardens in Peoria. Smiling and chatting with constituents of his 18th Illinois District, Republican U.S. Rep. Aaron Schock was seen filling plates in an assembly line of volunteers including PCFB members, local Lions’ Club members and others.

Just 72 hours later, Schock – a 33 year-old Peorian and a rising star in the GOP – tendered his resignation from Congress over mounting allegations of fiscal improprieties and questionable real estate transactions. The news was particularly hard to swallow for officials and members of the PCFB, who had championed Schock as a friend of local agriculture and welcomed the six-year member of Congress to several PCFB functions over the years.

"(Schock) was a strong supporter of agriculture and rural communities in District 18. It is sad to see what has happened," said Patrick Kirchhofer, PCFB manager, late last week. "Maybe (later) we’ll be able to understand what has happened to a clearer degree."

Schock will vacate his U.S. House seat on March 31, the Congressman indicated in his resignation letter. A special election, with the possibility of prior primaries, has been announced for this July. Illinois State Sen. Darin LaHood (R-District 37) of Dunlap was among the first to announce he would run for Schock’s vacated seat. Kirchhofer said the PCFB will reach out to whoever assumes leadership of District 18, whenever that is decided.

The PCFB Farmer’s Share breakfast began in 2001 at the high school in Dunlap, a collar community of Peoria, with about 250 in attendance. Moving to the PCFB auditorium in Peoria for the following two years, the event gained traction, drawing around 500 consumers.

From there, organizers moved the breakfast to the Peoria Knights of Columbus Hall, with attendance – and awareness – continuing to swell. Five or six years ago, having outgrown its environs, the decision was made to locate the breakfast in the heart of Peoria at Expo Gardens, home of the Heart of Illinois Fairgrounds.

More attractions were added, such as farm machinery loaned by local dealers for exhibit, a mobile petting zoo of farm animals, area farm and rural photography, farm-related product booths and kids’ educational materials. Since the move to Expo Gardens, new breakfast attendance records have been set year after year, with 1,584 in 2014.

The continuing success of the farm breakfast, illustrated by a line of consumers more than a football field in length snaking out of the Exhibit Hall the morning of the event, can largely be credited to the low-budget word-of-mouth and social media campaign adopted by the PCFB to promote the annual event.

"Our target audience is really the urban consumer, because there are so few people growing up around farms – only about 1 percent. So few people have access to a production farm," Kirchhofer said, explaining the marketing strategy behind the breakfast.

"This brings farmers and consumers together for an opportunity to talk with actual farmers. The cheap breakfast opens the door to educating consumers about farming."

In addition to distributing news releases to local media in advance, the PCFB creates buzz through Facebook and other social media, flyers, its website and promoting the event through its quarterly Partners magazine issued to non-farming members of the PCFB.

"But the biggest promotion is through word of mouth," Kirchhofer said. "After this year’s breakfast, there will be another 1,800 people sharing news of the event with family, friends and neighbors."

The price of the breakfast usually fluctuates from year to year based on market prices. Last year, it was 90 cents. Though the price of milk increased in 2014 and early 2015, the increase was more than offset by reduced prices paid for pork, causing the "farmer’s share" of the breakfast to plunge by 5 cents.