New citizens, giant celebrations: Canada 150 in Metro Vancouver

Montage: Canada celebrates 150 years Coast to coast, here's a look at how proud Canadians celebrated the country's 150th birthday.

Metro Vancouver morphed into a massive party on Saturday, with celebrations happening in every city for Canada's 150th.

For some, the day was extra special, marking their first Canada Day as Canadians. A swearing-in ceremony at Canada Place welcomed 150 new citizens from 48 counties.

Among those sworn in were the Fergusons, a Richmond family who said they felt privileged to become Canadian on such a significant day.

"I'm feeling amazing right now," Anna Ferguson said.

"What a great day to be doing it. To become a citizen on the 150th anniversary."

Anna is from the Philippines, while her husband Bob is from Scotland. Their 10-year-old triplets Danielle, Elizabeth and Chloe were born in the United Arab Emirates. But Canada is home for the family of five.

"Canada is so special to us. We could have stayed anywhere else in the world, but this is the place for us," Anna said.

And Saturday morning they made it official with an oath, then sang the national anthem for the first time as Canadians.

Canada's defence minister spoke at the ceremony, telling them they could be anything, even the next prime minister. While the giant cake that awaited them at the end of the ceremony was a highlight for the Ferguson girls, they said the speech made them feel "awesome."

"I hope one day Canada will be proud of these kids," Bob said.

"I want them to really come up and be part of Canada, and hopefully they'll be proud of them."

After the ceremony, the family joined the festivities at Canada Place, and planned to take in the fireworks in the evening.

Day One of the massive party at Canada Place – including live performances, food, vendors and more – culminates with pyrotechnics lit off of barges in Coal Harbour and Dundarave, across the Burrard Inlet, after dark.

Organizers typically see about 250,000 people during the day on Canada Day at Canada Place, but expected a 50 per cent increase this year because of the sesquicentennial. Day Two of the celebrations start Sunday morning, and continue through the day, ending with a parade downtown on Sunday evening.

The venue was so full on Saturday that Vancouver police took to social media to ask revellers to celebrate elsewhere. Canada Place clarified, however, that the message only referred to the ticketed fireworks viewing area.

The downtown venue is not the only place hosting a massive patriotic party.

Similar celebrations are being held across the Lower Mainland, with the largest in Surrey and Richmond. CTV News broadcasted live at 6 p.m. from both events, as well as Jack Poole Plaza.

On the North Shore, visitors to Grouse Mountain formed a massive maple leaf, in effort to break a world record.

Two other record attempts took place in Vancouver. Dozens took part in a drum circle at Crab Park, trying to break a Guinness World Record for most nationalities in a single drum circle. The drumming was also part of a Canada-wide celebration with similar events at the same time in Calgary, Regina, Winnipeg, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Halifax.

And a massive flag was unveiled in Stanley Park, thought to be the largest Canadian flag ever made.

Thousands attended events in Victoria, while Christy Clark made an appearance at a celebration in Kelowna. Premier-designate John Horgan made appearances in Port Moody and in Surrey, and is also expected to head to Vancouver Island for Sooke's celebration.

With files from CTV Vancouver's Mike Killeen and Sarah MacDonald, and The Canadian Press