diff --git a/bats_ai/core/management/commands/load_public_dataset.py b/bats_ai/core/management/commands/load_public_dataset.py
index 7b9ee72f..22ebd867 100644
--- a/bats_ai/core/management/commands/load_public_dataset.py
+++ b/bats_ai/core/management/commands/load_public_dataset.py
@@ -116,6 +116,7 @@ def _ingest_files_from_manifest(
     offset: int | None,
     file_key: str = "file_key",
     tag_keys: list[str] | None = None,
+    data_dir: Path | None = None,
 ):
     if tag_keys is None:
         tag_keys = []
@@ -137,6 +138,7 @@ def _ingest_files_from_manifest(
             filename = None
 
             try:
+                local = False
                 s3_key = line[file_key]
                 existing_recording = Recording.objects.filter(name=s3_key).first()
                 if existing_recording:
@@ -146,12 +148,31 @@ def _ingest_files_from_manifest(
                 logger.info("Ingesting %s...", s3_key)
                 object_exists = _try_head_s3_object(s3_client, bucket, s3_key)
                 if not object_exists:
-                    logger.warning("Could not HEAD object with key %s. Skipping...", s3_key)
-                    continue
-                filename = _create_filename(s3_key)
-                logger.info("Downloading to temporary file %s...", filename)
-                s3_client.download_file(bucket, s3_key, filename)
-                logger.info("Creating recording for %s", s3_key)
+                    if not data_dir:
+                        logger.warning("Could not HEAD object with key %s. Skipping...", s3_key)
+                        continue
+                    else:
+                        logger.info(
+                            "Could not HEAD object with key %s. Checking local directory %s",
+                            s3_key,
+                            data_dir,
+                        )
+                        local = True
+                if not local:
+                    filename = _create_filename(s3_key)
+                    logger.info("Downloading to temporary file %s...", filename)
+                    s3_client.download_file(bucket, s3_key, filename)
+                    logger.info("Creating recording for %s", s3_key)
+                else:
+                    if not data_dir:
+                        logger.warning("No local data directory specified. Skipping...")
+                        continue
+                    filename = str(data_dir / s3_key)
+                    if Path(filename).exists():
+                        logger.info("Found local file match for %s.", s3_key)
+                    else:
+                        logger.warning("Could not find a local match for %s, skipping...", s3_key)
+                        continue
                 metadata = _get_metadata(filename, line)
                 with open(filename, "rb") as f:
                     recording = Recording.objects.create(
@@ -188,7 +209,7 @@ def _ingest_files_from_manifest(
                 )
                 recording_compute_spectrogram.delay(recording.pk)
             finally:
-                if filename:
+                if not local and filename:
                     # Delete the file (this may run on a machine with limited resources)
                     try:
                         logger.info("Cleaning up by removing temporary file %s...", filename)
@@ -198,7 +219,7 @@ def _ingest_files_from_manifest(
 
 
 class Command(BaseCommand):
-    help = "Create recordings and spectrograms from WAV files in a public s3 bucket"
+    help = "Ingest recordings from local filesystem and public s3 according to a manifest file."
 
     def add_arguments(self, parser):
         parser.add_argument(
@@ -212,6 +233,9 @@ def add_arguments(self, parser):
             # Assume columns "Key" and "Tags"
             help="Manifest CSV file with file keys and tags",
         )
+        parser.add_argument(
+            "--data-dir", type=str, help="The directory where local recordings are located"
+        )
         parser.add_argument(
             "--owner",
             type=str,
@@ -253,6 +277,16 @@ def handle(self, *args, **options):
         except ClientError:
             self.stdout.write(self.style.ERROR(f"Could not access bucket {bucket}"))
             return
+
+        data_dir = options.get("data_dir")
+        if data_dir:
+            data_dir = Path(data_dir)
+            if not data_dir.exists():
+                self.stdout.write(
+                    self.style.ERROR(f"Specified data directory {data_dir} does not exist")
+                )
+                return
+
         manifest = Path(options["manifest"])
         if not manifest.exists():
             self.stdout.write(self.style.ERROR(f"Could not find manifest file {manifest}"))
@@ -290,4 +324,5 @@ def handle(self, *args, **options):
             offset=offset,
             file_key=file_key,
             tag_keys=tag_keys,
+            data_dir=data_dir,
         )