The annual truck show and driver appreciation and advocacy event on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., TenFour D.C., this year will resemble past years in many ways. Truck drivers and owner-operators will convoy into the nation’s capital from staging grounds in Fredericksburg, Virginia, then spend parts of three days on the National Mall greeting members of the public, receiving visits from and venturing out to meetings with lawmakers and regulators, and generally enjoying camaraderie among fellow truckers in the most unique setting for a truck show you might imagine.
Yet Fred Bowerman, longtime organizer with the event, is hopeful for improved participation in this year’s edition of the event. As the video above by Texomatic Motor Media makes clear, sponsorships from a variety of trucking vendors, organizations and fleets have bolstered plans. Trucker-songwriter Tony Justice, of a piece, will perform on the National Mall as part of the festivities the Friday of the event, October 4, in a show presented by the Bennett Family of Companies.
The 10-4 event was launched following experiences of a variety of truckers, Justice included, in D.C. ahead of implementation of the electronic logging device mandate in 2017. It’s evolved since into a celebration of engagement between truck owners/operators and the general public, lawmakers and regulators (FMCSA reps typically visit the show grounds on the Mall), and other trucking stakeholders.
Thomasville, Pennsylvania-based owner-operator Dave Mitchell, leased to West Motor Freight, met some of the organizers and past participants during the May 2020 demonstration along Constitution Avenue around the pandemic-inspired freight falloff and concerns with brokers taking advantage of the situation in the spot market. Mitchell finally got to the 10-4 event proper just last year, and called it a breath of fresh air in more ways than one. “It’s not a protest, it’s not a truck show” exactly, he said. Rather, It’s an opportunity for “public outreach” in a setting like no other, between the United States Capitol and the Washington Monument.
Owner-operator Dave Mitchell and his 1995 Western Star parked up with other trucks along both sides of the National Mall at the 10-4 event in 2023.
“You’re talking to the tourists as they’re walking by, explaining what trucking is all about,” Mitchell said. Last year, “I probably had 100 people sit in my truck the time we were there.”
Representatives from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration were there, he added, with a “good crowd around their tent, and people talking and asking questions, getting information.”
The TenFour event, he reiterated, is “not a protest. It’s no-risk, it’s getting one-on-one with the public and educating them. We’re not going to change anything in this industry unless we’ve got the public behind us.”
He called the issues truckers experience day-to-day on the road a function of the dearth of public appreciation and awareness. “People in the cars just don’t understand,” he said. “This is a perfect setting” for the kind of outreach that might make on-highway and along-the-highway life that much more positive, fruitful, respectful. And “how many drivers can say, ‘Yeah, I slept in my truck on the National Mall in front of the White House’? That’s bragging rights right there.”
At once, during three nights on the Mall, a hotel room is an oft-procured amenity for attendees, yet participating truckers also take shifts for “fire watch” duties to monitor the location/trucks. Security of the equipment on location is a priority for organizers, Bowerman noted.
It’s incumbent on would-be participants to register, too, he added, which is free for all.
Those interested in being a part of the event, which departs from the Fredericksburg Agricultural Fairgrounds for the National Mall at 11 p.m. Wednesday, October 2, can register via the TenFour D.C. website, where you can also find more information. The video below excerpts interviews and scenes from the roll-in, and roll-out, during the 2020 edition of the event:
[Related: 10-4 on D.C.: Wee-hours roll-in, voices and more]