Some fans bring a poster to the TODAY plaza. Lakeva Keel-Ferreira brought a violin, a pair of enormous round glasses and a white turtleneck. Then she stood in the Friday morning crowd as a living copy of the most teased photo in Craig Melvin's life.

The picture in question is Melvin's seventh-grade school portrait. In it a very young future anchor poses in front of a blue backdrop with his instrument tucked under his chin and glasses that take up most of his face. His co-hosts pull it out whenever they need a laugh. Keel-Ferreira decided it was time somebody brought it to life.

She did not take a short trip to do it. She got in her car in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Thursday and drove through the night. By the time the sun came up over Rockefeller Plaza she was in place with every detail covered, right down to a blue background to match the original shot.

Al Roker could not believe his eyes

Cameras spotted her a little after 6:20 a.m. Central. Al Roker reacted like a man who had just won the lottery and shouted that there really is a God. The whole desk dissolved into laughter.

Producers did not let the moment end outside. They brought Keel-Ferreira into the studio for the 6:30 a.m. Central half hour and Savannah Guthrie introduced her as the spitting image of the famous Craig photo. Guthrie joked that the anchors had planned to be the winners of Halloween before their costume reveal later in the show.

Keel-Ferreira never cracked. She kept sawing away at the violin with a perfectly straight face while the hosts howled. Guthrie begged her to keep going and pointed out that she was not even breaking character. Carson Daly simply handed her the crown and told her she had won Halloween.

Why she did it

When Melvin finally asked why she chose him, her answer was simple. His co-workers tease him about that picture constantly, she said, so she figured somebody should have done this already. Since nobody had, she was going to have to do it herself. She told him she just had to mess with him.

Daly could not let the moment pass without one more jab. He said that whenever the photo shows up on screen he thinks Melvin looks like all three members of Bell Biv DeVoe at once. Guthrie told the fan the overnight drive was worth it for the whole crew and welcomed her into the TODAY family.

A photo with a sweet story behind it

The portrait is funny but it comes from a loving place. Melvin has explained that his mother was a schoolteacher and the first person in her family to go to college. She wanted her kids to try everything she never got to try growing up. That meant magic lessons, speech contests and one day an announcement that he would be playing the violin.

Nobody in the family had ever played the instrument. His mother also picked out his clothes until about the eighth grade, which explains the turtleneck. Melvin has even said that without that picture he might not be sitting in the anchor chair today.

On Friday a fan from Charlotte made sure that photo lives on for another Halloween. Judging by the laughter in Studio 1A it is not going anywhere soon.