Tony Crosby, left, talks to a group of building inspectors March 5 at the Cambria hotel in Lake Placid, next to Jim Morganson, after watching his daughter Alyssa Crosby, of Binghamton, sing in the blind auditions of “The Voice” reality television show on NBC. (Provided photo)

LAKE PLACID — It took eight years of trying to get on the TV show — and a lot of karaoke when she was a kid — but it only took about 90 seconds of singing Alanis Morissette’s “Hand In My Pocket” for 32-year-old Alyssa Crosby, of Binghamton, to be chosen by the queen of country music, Reba McEntire, on NBC’s “The Voice.”

Just ask Crosby’s dad, Tony. He was watching the show live at the Cambria hotel in Lake Placid when it aired Tuesday night, March 5, along with a group of building inspectors.

“I think it was amazing that my fellow code enforcement officials came down to support me and my daughter, mainly my daughter, but I felt like they were supporting me as well,” Tony said. “The warmth and everything that they showed while they were and the encouragement and the excitement, it was just amazing. It was just really a powerful moment for me.”

As the building and code inspector for the town of Vestal in the Binghamton area, Tony was attending state certification training during the 29th annual Northern Adirondack First Preventer Institute hosted annually in Lake Placid by Adirondack Code Enforcement Officials. He’s been attending the training session for about 15 years.

The night before the show aired, Tony saw Adirondack Code Enforcement Officials President Jim Morganson, of Lake Placid, in the lobby and asked him if he could have a watch party for “The Voice” on March 5. Morganson thought it was a good idea, and they set up the party with two large screens in the conference room.

Alyssa Crosby, of Binghamton, talks to judges after singing in the blind auditions of "The Voice" reality television show on NBC, which aired March 5. (Provided photo — The Voice/YouTube)

“You know how things happen in Lake Placid,” Morganson said. “Things get magical sometimes.”

A video taken by Morganson’s wife shows the tension and excitement of those 90 seconds and the celebration when Morganson brought Tony up to the front of the conference room and introduced him.

“Ladies and gentlemen, here’s her dad!” Morganson said.

As Alyssa began her song for the blind audition, the coaches — McEntire, John Legend, Chance the Rapper and Dan and Shay (Dan Smyers and Shay Mooney) — sat in chairs with their backs to the singer. The object is to sing a song well enough that one or more coaches will turn their chair, meaning they want the singer on their team. When multiple chairs turn, the coaches make sales pitches in the hope that the singer will choose them for a coach. Since McEntire was the only one to turn her chair, Alyssa was automatically on Team Reba.

During the performance, the show’s host, Carson Daly, was standing next to Alyssa’s mother and fiance.

“C’mon, Reba,” Daly said as Alyssa sang.

A woman at the watch party was also rooting for her.

“Oh, c’mon, c’mon, c’mon, c’mon,” she said. “C’mon.”

“C’mon, Reba, help us out,” Daly said again, just before Reba turned her chair around with only 10 seconds left to go in the song.

The Cambria room erupted with cheers and clapping, just like it did on the Hollywood set. Alyssa’s mother hugged Daly, who said, “You did it. I was worried about you.”

As the chairs of the other coaches turned around, Dan, of Dan and Shay, said, “11th hour Reba.”

Then it was time for the other coaches to comment on Alyssa’s performance.

“There were some moments that were just so powerful and so strong, and your voice has a really nice roundness to it,” Legend said. “I think you’re going to do really well on the show. I’m excited for you.”

Asked about her story, Alyssa said she’s been singing since she was a little kid when her parents ran a karaoke business.

“I love to do Janis Joplin, Reba,” she said about her favorite karaoke songs.

“We always had music around,” Tony said about their karaoke business when they lived in Florida. “She would come out to the bar when I would set up the karaoke equipment, and she’d basically stay until the bartender or the owner said she couldn’t be there anymore, which was usually between 9 and 10 o’clock. He’d just say, ‘Nobody that’s 9 years old should be in a bar.’ I didn’t disagree, so I would take her home and come back later and pick up equipment.”

Then it was time for McEntire to comment on Alyssa’s performance.

“You’ve got a great voice,” McEntire said. “I’m just tickled to pieces that you’re on my team. We’ll have a wonderful time. And another thing you get is Reba’s Chicken Tenders.”

McEntire said Alyssa’s voice was “really good” and “unique,” adding,“She had that soulfulness that I absolutely fell in love with.”

A graduate of Whitney Point High School, north of Binghamton, Alyssa is currently a bartender and a singer. And now that she’s on “The Voice,” Tony will start watching the shows, even though he doesn’t watch much television.

“When she went to California last summer, I started watching bits and pieces of previous episodes just to kind of get the feel of what the show is all about,” he said.

Tony admitted that while his daughter didn’t tell him the outcome of the blind audition, it wasn’t a complete surprise when McEntire turned her chair around.

“I had had some hints,” he said. “Even though I kind of knew the outcome, I was still on pins and needles. When I saw that chair turn, I mean I was just as excited as I was right there watching it. It was amazing to see my kid who has been trying out for ‘The Voice’ for eight years and never giving up.”

During the code enforcement training, 200 attendees received education and certificates to continue in their jobs safeguarding North Country towns and villages, according to Morganson.

“This event had a motivational speaker who had been a survivor of a residential fire,” he wrote in an email. “Her speech was one of the most important in the history of this meeting.”

For six years, the conference has supported North Country Honor Flight. This year, members raised $5,000, which was matched by another $5,000 donation from Performance Industrials of Watertown. That’s enough to serve 10 veterans in the Honor Flight program out of Plattsburgh, he added.