The 91-year-old Hacienda Heights resident has repaired hundreds of accordions over the past 35 years, an avocation he never dreamed he’d pursue as a younger man. In the process, he’s become an expert on the construction and history of the instrument, and a living encyclopedia of all things accordion.

Though Costabile’s father played the accordion, and he attended many a polka dance while growing up in Pennsylvania, he had no hands-on experience with the instrument until he was forced into early retirement due to a 1970 heart attack. At that time, Costabile, who moved to California in 1946 after serving in the U.S. infantry during World War II, worked as a foreman in an aircraft foundry. His heart attack, followed by the death six days later of his wife, forever altered his life.

“It was a rough go there for awhile, but I knew I needed something to keep me occupied,” he said.

He found it a couple of years after his early retirement. It was an accordion he saw at a yard sale. He purchased it on a whim, opened it up and took a look inside.

“I basically cleaned it up and fixed it up and then sold it,” he said. “I didn’t think much of it beyond that.”

But shortly after, he met someone who worked at the Universal Accordion Company in La Habra. “He taught me for free and soon I was doing it on my own. When I took it up, I didn’t know if I was going to be any good at it, but I took an interest and really enjoyed it. I didn’t do it to make money. I just took what I got and used it on groceries. Had I charged what my time was really worth I’d probably be rich today.”

Costabile started taking his tools with him to local gigs and many times he’d hear someone on stage “yell for Sam, and I’d get up there, repair a reed or something and then they’d go right back to playing.”

Though Costabile didn’t get wealthy working on accordions, he developed a keen interest and appreciation for the instrument.

“A lot of people have no idea what the inside looks like,” he said. “I wouldn’t compare it to the inside of a computer or something like that, but it’s quite an operation. When I started, everything was handcrafted and the companies really tried to do their best. Nowadays, it’s more like how automobiles are made, with parts made in different places and then assembled.”

He’s also learned an enormous amount of history and trivia about the accordion—and formed some pretty strong opinions. He believes Italian accordions are the best made, that Russians make the best accordion players, and that something special was lost when the accordion fell out of public favor.

As late as the early ‘70s, Costabile said, thousands of people played the accordion in Southern California. “I remember a fella by the name of Milton Mann who got wealthy off teaching the accordion,” he said. “At one time, he had 22 schools in California with 7,000 students and 95 teachers.”

But the revolution in popular musical tastes that began with Elvis Presley and continued with the Beatles eventually curtailed the accordion’s popularity.

“Accordions just couldn’t compete with the guitar,” he said. “People could make more money playing a cheap electric guitar than an accordion, which was more expensive. Nowadays, a lot of people have no idea what an accordion is. A couple of years ago, I was working on one in my garage and my mailman peeked in and asked what in the world I was working on. He was 25.”

Arthritis finally caught up with Costabile’s fingers, so he no longer repairs accordions. But he remains deeply interested in the instrument that provided him a second vocation in life—and he hopes that, someday, accordions will be as popular as they once were.

“I hope it does come back, I sure do,” he said. “Maybe a lot of younger people who don’t know much about the accordion will discover it. It really is a special kind of machine.”

Along with Costabile, accordionists and other musicians, ranging in ages 8 to 86 and talent levels and music styles as equally broad ranging, will join together to help the accordion earn its respect back. Four stages of accordion music and accordion based bands and orchestras will be featured and include genres such as Cajun, Zydeco, Folk, Jazz, Gypsy, French, German, Tango, Russian, Tex-Mex, Latin, Blues, Rock and much more.

In addition there will be free dance lessons and a section for specialty vendors in the Main Squeeze Stage area. Along with the Festival is the regular base of Market Place vendors which includes nearly 1,000 merchants offering a variety of products and services. fresh produce, gourmet foods to go, artisans and crafters, manufactured homes, kid’s play area, inflatable attractions, hair salon, food concessions and more.

Though the talent is rich, the Accordion Festival will not put a squeeze on your wallet. All activities including entrance to the swap meet are included in the price of Market Place admission, which is $2 or FREE with a canned food item to help the Orange County Food Bank. Children 12 and under are free. A complete schedule for “The Big Squeeze” is available at the website www.ocmarketplace.com.

All attendees will have the opportunity to win a FREE Hohner Bravo 48 II accordion donated by Hohner USA. Free sign up to win the accordion, which is ideal for beginners, will be available from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Big Squeeze information booth. The winner, who must be present to win, will be announced at 2:30 p.m.

In its 40th year the Orange County Market Place is held every weekend (except during the Orange County Fair) at the O.C. Fair and Event Center in Costa Mesa. Hours are 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. More information on these events may be obtained by visiting www.ocmarketplace.com or calling 949-723-6660.