diff --git a/lib/tasks/search_event_loader.rake b/lib/tasks/search_event_loader.rake
index d57b0a5..b511cc0 100644
--- a/lib/tasks/search_event_loader.rake
+++ b/lib/tasks/search_event_loader.rake
@@ -14,6 +14,9 @@ namespace :search_events do
   # @example
   # bin/rails search_events:csv_loader['local_path_to_file.csv', 'some-source-to-use-for-all-loaded-records']
   #
+  # @example
+  # bin/rails search_events:csv_loader['https://SERVER/remote_path_to_file.json', 'some-source-to-use-for-all-loaded-records']
+  #
   # @param path [String] local file path to a CSV file to load
   # @param source [String] source name to load the data under
   desc 'Load search_events from csv'
@@ -21,9 +24,18 @@ namespace :search_events do
     raise ArgumentError.new, 'Path is required' if args.path.blank?
     raise ArgumentError.new, 'Source is required' if args.source.blank?
 
-    Rails.logger.info("Loading data from #{args.path}")
+    # does the file look like a path or a URI
+    if URI(args.path).scheme
+      Rails.logger.info("Loading data from remote file #{args.path}")
+      data = URI.parse(args.path).open('rb', &:read)
+    else
+      Rails.logger.info("Loading data from local file #{args.path}")
+      data = File.read(args.path)
+    end
 
-    CSV.foreach(args.path) do |row|
+    # not ideal, we should consider streaming the file rather than loading it fully into memory
+    # if you run into issues with this, consider loading subsets (such as a single month) at a time
+    CSV.parse(data) do |row|
       term = Term.create_or_find_by!(phrase: row.first)
       term.search_events.create!(source: args.source, created_at: row.last)
     end
diff --git a/test/tasks/search_event_loader_rake_test.rb b/test/tasks/search_event_loader_rake_test.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cc2e4e8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/tasks/search_event_loader_rake_test.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+# frozen_string_literal: true
+
+require 'test_helper'
+require 'rake'
+
+class SearchEventLoaderRakeTest < ActiveSupport::TestCase
+  def setup
+    Tacos::Application.load_tasks if Rake::Task.tasks.empty?
+    Rake::Task['search_events:csv_loader'].reenable
+  end
+
+  test 'csv_loader can accept a url and source parameter' do
+    records_before = SearchEvent.count
+    VCR.use_cassette('search_events:url_loader from remote csv') do
+      remote_file = 'http://static.lndo.site/search_events.csv'
+      Rake::Task['search_events:csv_loader'].invoke(remote_file, 'test')
+    end
+
+    assert_not_equal records_before, SearchEvent.count
+  end
+
+  test 'csv_loader errors without any parameters' do
+    error = assert_raises(ArgumentError) do
+      Rake::Task['search_events:csv_loader'].invoke
+    end
+    assert_equal 'Path is required', error.message
+  end
+
+  test 'csv_loader errors without a source parameter' do
+    error = assert_raises(ArgumentError) do
+      remote_file = 'http://static.lndo.site/search_events.csv'
+      Rake::Task['search_events:csv_loader'].invoke(remote_file)
+    end
+    assert_equal 'Source is required', error.message
+  end
+end
diff --git a/test/vcr_cassettes/search_events_url_loader_from_remote_csv.yml b/test/vcr_cassettes/search_events_url_loader_from_remote_csv.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cb7cf14
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/vcr_cassettes/search_events_url_loader_from_remote_csv.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+---
+http_interactions:
+- request:
+    method: get
+    uri: http://static.lndo.site/search_events.csv
+    body:
+      encoding: US-ASCII
+      string: ''
+    headers:
+      Accept-Encoding:
+      - gzip;q=1.0,deflate;q=0.6,identity;q=0.3
+      Accept:
+      - "*/*"
+      User-Agent:
+      - Ruby
+  response:
+    status:
+      code: 200
+      message: OK
+    headers:
+      Accept-Ranges:
+      - bytes
+      Content-Length:
+      - '92'
+      Content-Type:
+      - text/csv
+      Date:
+      - Wed, 28 Aug 2024 21:47:08 GMT
+      Etag:
+      - '"5c-620c52829ded5"'
+      Last-Modified:
+      - Wed, 28 Aug 2024 21:36:54 GMT
+      Server:
+      - Apache/2.4.54 (Debian)
+    body:
+      encoding: UTF-8
+      string: |
+        first search term,1996-04-13 19:30:00.000000
+        another search term,1999-05-15 19:30:00.000000
+  recorded_at: Wed, 28 Aug 2024 21:47:08 GMT
+recorded_with: VCR 6.2.0