Miss Twin Peaks: FGCU student wins crown, $15,000. Who is she?
Lacy Comer never thought she'd be crowned the new Miss Twin Peaks .
She didn't even think she'd make the Top 10 ― especially after getting a look at her competition.
Comer, 20, remembers flying to Arlington, Texas, for the June 11 contest and seeing all the beautiful women competing ― more than 100 Twin Peaks employees from all over the country.
"I was kind of looking around, and I was like, 'Oh my gosh,' just seeing all these girls," says the FGCU student, a longtime Tampa Bay resident now living in Fort Myers. "And I was like, 'Where did they all come from?'
"They're all so stunning and beautiful and well-spoken. I was like, 'I don't know how I'm here right now!'"
Miss Fort Myers: The newly crowned Miss Twin Peaks 2024
The show's judges obviously thought otherwise. And at the end of the competition, Comer was declared the new Miss Twin Peaks 2024.
She couldn't believe it.
"I was just absolutely in shock," she says. "I didn't expect it all. I just didn't understand how they could pick winners out of all those girls. Like, everyone was stunning and held themselves up so well."
The Twin Peaks "sports lodge" chain puts on the competition every year. Women strut and pose onstage in swimsuits, costumes and high heels as they try to win the grand prize.
This year, that prize was $15,000 cash. And Comer already knows what she's doing with the money: She's paying off her tuition at FGCU, where she's a junior majoring in health administration.
"I actually started at Twin Peaks to start paying rent for my first apartment on my own," she says. "So I'm going to use this to pay off the last couple years of school tuition, and kinda have some weight taken off my shoulders and my parents.
"I can graduate and not be in that much debt. It'll be nice. I have two years left, and it basically covers it all."
Comer works as a bartender and server at the Fort Myers Twin Peaks , a restaurant chain known for its cold beer, comfort food, wall-to-wall TVs and scantily clad bartenders and servers (known as "Twin Peaks girls").
Comer's manager encouraged her to apply for the competition. She was hesitant at first, she says, but now she's glad he talked her into it.
She says she's the first Miss Twin Peaks from DMD Ventures , the company that owns the Twin Peaks franchise in Fort Myers and several other Florida locations.
"I'm absolutely honored," she says. "I haven't been with this company long, but I fell in love with it. I love what I do."
Competing for Miss Twin Peaks: Silver bikinis and lots of gemstones
For the competition, Comer ― competing as Miss Fort Myers ― walked the stage in her silver competition bikini and later a festival-style costume featuring feathers, leg wraps, boots and a bra covered in blue and green gemstones. She introduced herself, struck a few poses, did a few costume changes and then waited with the other women to see who won.
Everyone asks Comer if she was nervous competing onstage at Arlington's Texas Live! entertainment center.
Not really, she says.
She'd spent years cheerleading at high school football games (she graduated from Ruskin's Lennard High School) and then last year at FGCU basketball games. So she's used to performing for a crowd.
"Just being in front of crowds for that long is kind of natural to me," she says. "I turn off my brain, and I don't think about any of that. … I know what I have to do, and I just do it."
This was Comer's first time competing in the Miss Twin Peaks International Contest. She started working at the Fort Myers Twin Peaks in October.
The contest was televised live at all Twin Peaks restaurants. More than $50,000 in cash prizes were awarded.
In addition to competing onstage, the women took part in a welcome dinner, professional photo shoots, a vendor showcase and charitable events. The competition benefited SafeHaven of Tarrant County and the Tunnel to Towers Foundation.
Check it out: Twin Peaks opens at Coastland Center mall in Naples
For more information about Twin Peaks, visit TwinPeaksRestaurant.com .
Charles Runnells is an arts and entertainment reporter for The News-Press and the Naples Daily News. To reach him, call 239-335-0368 (for tickets to shows, call the venue) or email him at crunnells@gannett.com . Follow or message him on social media: Facebook ( facebook.com/charles.runnells.7 ), X (formerly Twitter) ( @charlesrunnells ), Threads (@crunnells1) and Instagram ( @crunnells1 ).
This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Miss Twin Peaks winner: Fort Myers, Florida woman takes $15K prize
