diff --git a/Gemfile.lock b/Gemfile.lock
index f6cfe7a8..e006a541 100644
--- a/Gemfile.lock
+++ b/Gemfile.lock
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ GEM
     arel (2.0.6)
     autotest (4.4.6)
       ZenTest (>= 4.4.1)
-    bcrypt-ruby (2.1.3)
+    bcrypt-ruby (2.1.4)
     bson (1.1.5)
     bson_ext (1.1.5)
     builder (2.1.2)
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ GEM
       rack-test (>= 0.5.4)
       selenium-webdriver (>= 0.0.27)
       xpath (~> 0.1.2)
-    celerity (0.8.6)
+    celerity (0.8.7)
     childprocess (0.1.6)
       ffi (~> 0.6.3)
     closure-compiler (0.3.3)
@@ -89,7 +89,7 @@ GEM
     diff-lcs (1.1.2)
     erubis (2.6.6)
       abstract (>= 1.0.0)
-    excon (0.3.7)
+    excon (0.3.8)
     factory_girl (1.3.2)
     factory_girl_rails (1.0.1)
       factory_girl (~> 1.3)
@@ -244,7 +244,7 @@ GEM
     warden (0.10.7)
       rack (>= 1.0.0)
     will_paginate (3.0.pre2)
-    xpath (0.1.2)
+    xpath (0.1.3)
       nokogiri (~> 1.3)
     yard (0.6.4)
     yui-compressor (0.9.1)
diff --git a/lib/locomotive/import/content_types.rb b/lib/locomotive/import/content_types.rb
index 89c2640d..0983d083 100644
--- a/lib/locomotive/import/content_types.rb
+++ b/lib/locomotive/import/content_types.rb
@@ -73,6 +73,7 @@ module Locomotive
             value = (case field.kind.downcase
             when 'file'     then self.open_sample_asset(value)
             when 'boolean'  then Boolean.set(value)
+            when 'date'     then Date.parse(value)
             else
               value
             end)
diff --git a/lib/locomotive/liquid/filters/date.rb b/lib/locomotive/liquid/filters/date.rb
index f00b4ce5..d9ec339b 100644
--- a/lib/locomotive/liquid/filters/date.rb
+++ b/lib/locomotive/liquid/filters/date.rb
@@ -4,16 +4,17 @@ module Locomotive
       module Date
 
         def localized_date(input, *args)
-          format, locale = args[0], args[1] rescue 'en'
+          format, locale = args[0], args[1] || 'en'
 
-          date = input.is_a?(String) ? Time.parse(input) : input
+          return input.to_s if format.to_s.empty?
 
-          if format.to_s.empty?
-            return input.to_s
+          if input.is_a?(String)
+            fragments = ::Date._strptime(input, I18n.t('date.formats.default'))
+            date = ::Date.new(fragments[:year], fragments[:mon], fragments[:mday])
+          else
+            date = input
           end
 
-          date = input.is_a?(String) ? Time.parse(input) : input
-
           if date.respond_to?(:strftime)
             I18n.locale = locale
             I18n.l date, :format => format