diff --git a/eleventy.config.js b/eleventy.config.js
index a19f710..ab1aec1 100644
--- a/eleventy.config.js
+++ b/eleventy.config.js
@@ -20,6 +20,8 @@ const figoptions = {
 	figcaption: true,
 };
 
+const timeZone = "America/Chicago";
+
 export default async function (eleventyConfig) {
 	// Helper Functions
 	const multiReplace = (text, replacementTable) => {
@@ -30,6 +32,25 @@ export default async function (eleventyConfig) {
 		return newText;
 	};
 
+	eleventyConfig.addDateParsing((dateValue) => {
+		let localDate;
+		if (dateValue instanceof Date) {
+			// and YAML
+			localDate = DateTime.fromJSDate(dateValue, { zone: "utc" }).setZone(
+				timeZone,
+				{ keepLocalTime: true },
+			);
+		} else if (typeof dateValue === "string") {
+			localDate = DateTime.fromISO(dateValue, { zone: timeZone });
+		}
+		if (localDate?.isValid === false) {
+			throw new Error(
+				`Invalid \`date\` value (${dateValue}) is invalid for ${this.page.inputPath}: ${localDate.invalidReason}`,
+			);
+		}
+		return localDate;
+	});
+
 	// Collections
 	eleventyConfig.addCollection("galleryImages", (collection) => {
 		const galleries = collection.getAll()[0].data.galleries;
@@ -84,7 +105,6 @@ export default async function (eleventyConfig) {
 	});
 
 	eleventyConfig.addFilter("htmlDateString", (dateObj) => {
-		// dateObj input: https://html.spec.whatwg.org/multipage/common-microsyntaxes.html#valid-date-string
 		return DateTime.fromJSDate(dateObj, { zone: "utc" }).toFormat("yyyy-LL-dd");
 	});